'Will approach SC': Rakesh Tikait on release of Ashish Mishra in Lakhimpur Kheri violence case

Rakesh Tikait said that the SKM would appeal to the apex court to consider re-hearing in the case as the prosecution could not put forth its submission during the online hearing due to a power outage.

Lakhimpur Kheri: Farmer leader Rakesh Tikait on Tuesday said the Samyukta Kisan Morcha will approach the Supreme Court after Lakhimpur Kheri violence case accused Ashish Mishra was released from jail, days after getting bail from the Allahabad High Court on February 10.

Eight people, including four farmers, were killed and Union Minister Ajay Mishra’s son Ashish is among the key accused. Tikait said that the SKM would appeal to the apex court to consider re-hearing in the case as the prosecution could not put forth its submission during the online hearing due to a power outage.

Ashish Mishra, the son of Union Minister Ajay Mishra, is a key accused in the case and the Allahabad High Court granted him bail on February 10. After the October 3, 2021 violence, the SC had formed a special investigation team (SIT) which had probed the case and filed a charge sheet in the matter, holding Ashish as an accused along with 13 others.

“The whole country and whole world watched the most infamous Lakhimpur Kheri episode of Ajay and Ashish Mishra, who despite having committed a heinous crime gets bail within three months. Everybody is seeing that and he will walk out of jail today,” Tikait told reporters, adding the SKM would approach the Supreme Court.

"So is such dictatorial government needed, or this type of system needed in which someone who mows down people under a vehicle walks out of jail within three months. How will they behave with the public in times to come? These are our issues that people need to understand?’’ the BKU spokesperson said.

He claimed there was a power outage during the online court hearing in the case when the prosecution was making its point but the whole point could not be kept before the court. He also added that a person charged with criminal conspiracy under IPC section 120B is ‘more dangerous’ than someone who is accused under IPC section 302 (murder).

BKU spokesperson Saurabh Upadhyay said, “The SKM would appeal to the apex court to consider re-hearing in the case as the prosecution could not put forth its submission during the online hearing due to a power outage.”

Tikait, a prominent face of the farmers' stir and the national spokesperson of the BKU, which is part of the SKM, also hit out at the BJP-led Centre and the UP government over issues related to the farming community and the youth.

He slammed the saffron party for fighting the elections on “communal agendas instead of working for development.” Lakhimpur Kheri, known for its sugarcane farming, has eight assembly constituencies of Gola Gokrannath, Dhaurahra, Sri Nagar, Lakhimpur, Mohammdi, Kasta, Palia and Nighasan.

All eight assembly seats, which were won by BJP candidates in 2017, will go to the polls on February 23 in the fourth phase of assembly elections in UP. Election results would be announced on March 10.