The Supreme Court on Tuesday sought a response from the State of Uttar Pradesh to a plea for bail filed by Ashish Mishra, an accused in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence case and son of Union Minister Ajay Kumar Mishra.
A Bench led by Justice Indira Banerjee briefly heard Mr. Mishra's lawyer, Mukul Rohatgi, before issuing notice to the State.
Mr. Mishra has challenged an Allahabad High Court decision of July 26, which dismissed his petition for regular bail.
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The court sought the State's reply by September 26.
Mr. Rohatgi argued that the SUV which allegedly ran over the farmers protesting the controversial agricultural laws was driven by another person. Mr. Mishra is named as an accused in two FIRs, one of which dealt with an accusation that he ran out of the vehicle and fired shots from a sugarcane field.
In April, the Supreme Court had cancelled Mr. Mishra's bail given by the Allahabad High Court. The top court had observed that the High Court seemed to have been in a "tearing hurry" without giving the victims of the crime an opportunity to be heard.
The 24-page judgment in April had said the High Court had exceeded its jurisdiction and denied the victims a chance to participate in the bail proceedings.
“Victims certainly cannot be expected to be sitting on the fence and watching the proceedings from afar, especially when they may have legitimate grievances. It is the solemn duty of a court to deliver justice before the memory of an injustice eclipses,” Justice Surya Kant, who authored the judgment, had observed.
But the judgment had nevertheless not denied Mr. Mishra his right to seek bail again before the High Court, saying the High Court could consider his bail plea in a fair manner.
The court's April decision was based on pleas by the bereaved families of farmers who were killed when the vehicle allegedly ran over them.
One of the key questions which the Supreme Court had posed during the earlier hearings was why Uttar Pradesh had not appealed against the bail in the top court.
In November last year, the Supreme Court had appointed former Punjab and Haryana High Court judge, Justice Rakesh Kumar Jain, to monitor the investigation to ensure fairness and impartiality in the probe.
It had also reconstituted the Special Investigation Team to include three Indian Police Service (IPS) officers.
