A bench headed by Chief Justice NV Ramana set aside the Allahabad High Court which granted bail to Ashish Mishra.
The top court held that the Allahabad High Court order is not sustainable. The top court also observed that victims were not heard while considering the bail plea of Ashish Mishra in Allahabad High Court.
The Supreme Court remanded the matter back to the Allahabad High Court to hear the issue afresh.
"The denial of victims to be heard and the tearing hurry shown by the high court merits the setting aside of bail order," Justice Surya Kant, who read the operative portion of the judgement said, adding that the order cannot be “sustained and has to be set aside."
The bench said that it was not necessary to observe that the bail application of the accused should not be heard by the same judge, saying this aspect was better left to the chief justice of the high court.
Senior Advocate Mahesh Jethmalani appearing for the Uttar Pradesh government had said that it is a grave offence but accused Ashish Mishra is not a flight risk. He further submitted that it is a serious case as five people have died. "It is matter of trial," he had said.
The apex court was hearing a plea seeking the cancellation of bail of Ashish Mishra, who is the son of Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Ajay Mishra Teni. Ashish Mishra was granted bail by the Allahabad High Court on February 10.
The SC-appointed committee recommended preferring the appeal to cancel the bail of Ashish Mishra.
During the hearing, Senior Advocate Dushyant Dave, appearing for petitioners, had urged the Supreme Court to set aside the order of the Allahabad High Court granting bail to Mishra.Senior Advocate Ranjit Kumar, appearing for Ashish Mishra, justified the Allahabad High Court order.
Senior Advocate Jethmalani had submitted that all witnesses are under police protection and there is no possibility of witness tampering. He had also apprised the Court that the "state has vehemently opposed the bail plea of Ashish Mishra in Allahabad High Court."
Senior Advocate Dushyant Dave, appearing for petitioners, had submitted that the order of Allahabad HC suffered from complete non-application of mind.
Earlier, in an affidavit, Uttar Pradesh Government told the Supreme Court that the state has made all efforts to protect the witnesses and families of victims of the Lakhimpur Kheri incident. The Uttar Pradesh Government had told the Supreme Court that all the witnesses are regularly contacted by the police for appraisal of their security conditions.
The submission of Uttar Pradesh came in an affidavit, replying to the petition seeking to cancel bail to Ashish Mishra.
Uttar Pradesh government told the Supreme Court it had opposed the bail plea of Ashish Mishra in the Allahabad High Court and the submission of the petition that the State did not effectively oppose the bail application of the accused Ashish Mishra is completely untrue.
