On October 3, 2021, an SUV, with former Union minister of state for home Ajay ‘Teni’ Mishra’s son Ashish Mishra allegedly in it, mowed down four farmers and a journalist in Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur Kheri district. In the ensuing violence, three more people — two of whom were Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers and one was the driver of the car — were killed.
The incident ignited nationwide protests, prompted the Supreme Court to set up a special investigation team (SIT), and the arrest of 13 people, including Ashish Mishra.
Trial in the case finally began in January 2023.
But two years later, progress has been slow despite daily proceedings ordered by the apex court, and nearly 40% of the prosecution witnesses who’ve appeared in court have turned hostile, HT has found.
Only 47 of the 103 witnesses finalised by the prosecution have deposed before the court of additional district judge DN Singh so far. Of them, 20 have turned hostile while 27 have recorded their statements, according to statements from the prosecution lawyer.
“Out of 27 eyewitnesses who have recorded their statements in court, 25 are those who were injured in violence and two others are eyewitnesses,” said Arvind Tripathi, district government counsel (criminal), representing the state. “All 27 have also been cross examined by the defence counsel,” he added.
According to Tripathi, 20 eyewitnesses who have turned hostile are all private individuals and farmers. “After prosecution presents all its witnesses in court, defence will seek permission from the court to present its witnesses. Only after approval from the court, defence will be able to present its witnesses,” he added.
Ashish Mishra and 12others – Ashish Mishra, Ankit Das, Nandan Singh Bisht, Satya Prakash Tripathi, Latif alias Kale, Shekhar Bharti, Sumit Jaiswal, Ashish Pandey, Lavkush Rana, Shishu Pal, Ullhas Kumar alias Mohit Trivedi, Rinku Rana and Dharmendra Banjara – were charged under Indian Penal Code sections 147 and 148 related to rioting, 149 (unlawful assembly), 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder), 326 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt by dangerous weapons or means), 427 (mischief) and 120B (punishment for criminal conspiracy), and section 177 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988.
The charges were framed by the trial court in December 2022after a 5,000-page report by the SIT said the violence was “not an act of negligence or carelessness”, but “a pre-planned conspiracy”.
According to senior advocate Gyan Singh Chauhan, it will take time before the final order is delivered in the case. “Thereafter, the party against whom the trial court delivers the order will move the high court to challenge the order,” Chauhan added.
On October 4 this year, the Uttar Pradesh Police lodged a first information report against Ajay Mishra ‘Teni’, his son Ashish Mishra, a local resident Amandeep Singh, and an unidentified person for allegedly threatening Baljinder Singh, the prime witness in the October 3 violence case. The FIR was filed after the apex court questioned the Uttar Pradesh Police for delaying action on the witness’s complaint, on the pretext that he was unwilling to visit the police station.
Initially, the prosecution had identified 441 witnesses, including 208 eyewitnesses, 15 injured victims—among them police personnel—and 15 doctors who conducted post-mortems, said advocate Arvind Tripathi. After multiple rounds of scrutiny, the list was narrowed to 103. “Jagjit Singh, the father of one of the farmers who died in the violence, was the first prosecution witness to appear before the court. He is also a complainant in the case,” Tripathi said.
The October 3, 2021 violence ignited nationwide protests with Opposition parties pushing for the resignation of Ajay Mishra ‘Teni’.
The next day, Lakhimpur Kheri police filed a FIR against Ashish Mishra and 13 others but didn’t invoke murder or attempt to murder sections.
The SIT (special investigation team probing the case) had asked the court to replace the IPC sections 304A (death by negligence or culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 279 (rash driving), and 338 (causing grievous hurt by acts endangering life or personal safety of others) with IPC sections 307 (attempt to murder), 326 (causing hurt with dangerous weapon), 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention), and 3/25 of the Arms Act in the charges against them.
“The court conceded this demand by the prosecution and added the new charges in the warrant, including the charge of attempt to murder,” said advocate Tripathi.
The court, however, rejected the SIT’s plea to invoke the charge of “common intention” behind the incident following objections from the defence counsel.
Based on a complaint by a BJP ward member, police also filed a second FIR against the protesting farmers, charging them under section 302 of the IPC. Both the cases are under trial in the same court.
On October 7, 2021, the Supreme Court took cognisance of the violence. Two days later, Ashish Mishra appeared before the SIT and was arrested late at night.
On December 14, 2021, on request of the SIT, a local court in Uttar Pradesh added stringent sections of IPC and Arms Act, including attempt to murder, to the FIR.
On January 3, 2022, the SIT filed a 5,000-page chargesheet in the court in which it held 14 people responsible for violence. Virendra Shukla, the 14th accused in the violence, was granted bail by the chief judicial magistrate, on January 2022. The SIT said Ashish Mishra was present at the spot when violence broke out. The minister and his son had earlier maintained that they were not near the area that day.
The same month, the SIT also filed a chargesheet against four farmers in connection with the second FIR.
In February 2022, the Allahabad high court granted bail to Ashish Mishra, cast doubts on the police investigation and said it was possible that the driver of the car sped up to save himself.
Two months later, the Supreme Court scrapped the bail, bemoaning the “tearing hurry” shown by the Allahabad high court and expressing its “disappointment” over the proceedings before the high court, where, it said, victims were “denied a fair and effective hearing”.
In January 2023, the top court granted interim bail for eight weeks on an “experimental basis” to Ashish Mishra. The bench also granted interim bail to the farmers in the second FIR.
The top court extended Ashish Mishra’s bail on February 2024. He has been out since. None of the other co-accused are in jail.
HT reached out to BJP for a comment, but the leaders refused to give a reaction stating that the case is sub judice and being monitored by the Supreme Court.
However, Samajwadi Party spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary affirmed his party’s support to the farmers, stating that the incident was pre-planned.
