`Unfortunate and surprising`: SKM on grant of bail to MoS Ajay Mishra`s son in Lakhimpur Kheri case

New Delhi: The Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) – the apex body of farmers – on Thursday condemned the Allahabad High Court's decision granting bail to Union Minister of State (Home) Ajay Mishra's son Ashish Mishra in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence case.

The SKM said that the order “blurs the hope of a fair investigation and justice in the matter.”

The court on Thursday granted bail to Ashish Mishra, who was arrested in connection with the October 3, 2021 violence in Lakhimpur Kheri district of Uttar Pradesh that left eight people, including four farmers, dead.

"The order of the Allahabad High Court granting bail to the chief accused in the Lakhimpur Kheri murder case, Ashish Mishra alias Monu, is unfortunate and surprising,’’ the SKM said.

“The brutal case of four farmers and a journalist being crushed to death in broad daylight by the son of a Union Minister was a trial for the rule of law across the country. In such a case, despite clear evidence, the murder accused getting bail so soon, and that too on the first day of elections in Uttar Pradesh, is a matter of surprise," the umbrella organisation of over 40 farmer unions said in a statement.

"It is also surprising that without any proof, it has been speculated by the high court that the driver must have driven the vehicle over the crowd in panic. The comments made by the court on the (farmers') agitation without any context are unwarranted. The court granting bail to Ashish Mishra without considering the firm possibility of a politically powerful accused influencing the witnesses is extremely disappointing. This order blurs the hope of a fair investigation and justice in this heinous murder case," it added.

The SKM, which spearheaded a farmers' agitation against three agriculture laws of the Centre, demanded that the government should immediately file an appeal against the high court decision.