Opposed Ashish Mishra’s bail, gave security to witnesses: UP govt

New Delhi: The Uttar Pradesh government has claimed in the Supreme Court that it has opposed the bail application of Ashish Mishra in the Lakhimpur Kheri case and has provided security to all the witnesses in the case. Ashish Mishra is the son of Union Minister of State for Home Ajay Mishra.

The state government seems to have induced Divjot Singh, one of the grievously thrashed witnesses to come to the top court seeking protection recently, thrashed over the Holi controversy in the presence of his security details.

The state also claimed that it was in the process of deciding to appeal against the bail of Ashish Mishra and the limitation period for doing so was not yet over. The affidavit was filed ahead of hearing of an application seeking cancellation of bail granted to Ashish Mishra.

The state government objected to the claims made by the families of the victims of the case that the state had not effectively opposed the bail of Ashish Mishra. The state said that the AAG had told the court that “by the vehicle of the applicant and his followers, the protesters were crushed and five persons – Nakshatra Singh, Daljit Singh, Lovepreet Singh, Gurvinder Singh and Raman Kashyap – died and 13 Others killed. Injured”. The applicant fled after firing, the affidavit quoted AAG as saying.

The state also claimed that the witness who was recently thrashed was done for a different reason and was corroborated by his gunner. The state claimed that his gunner’s views were supported by other eyewitnesses.

The state argued that all the witnesses had said that it had nothing to do with the ruling party’s victory in the elections and termed the attempt to link the beating to the Lakhimpur Kheri incident as unwarranted.

The state said each witness in the case was assigned an armed gunner with a permanent security guard and was constantly being watched through CCTV cameras and police, who were on duty at barricades around their homes.

The state’s affidavit, filed by the home department, said security has been provided to around 98 witnesses. The families of the victims have accused the state government of not effectively opposing their bail. He has also accused the state of not filing an appeal. He also claimed that his lawyer, who was appearing through video conferencing, was cut off during the hearing and applications to hear him again were rejected by the High Court.

Originally published at Pen 18