NEW DELHI: A sessions judge has informed the Supreme Court that it would take five years to conclude the trial in the 2021 Lakhimpur Kheri violence case related to mowing down of four farmers.
The top court, in turn, asked the Uttar Pradesh government to ascertain if the accused in the connected case are still in the custody as prime accused Ashish Mishra pressed for bail in the violance case, which, the trial court said, would take five years to conclude.
Ashish Mishra is son of Union minister Ajay Kumar Mishra. He is accused of mowing down farmers during a protest in October, 2021.
Hearing his bail plea, a bench of Justices Surya Kant and V Ramasubramanian noted that the sessions judge said that in normal course, it may take five years to complete the trial.
In a letter sent to the apex court, the judge said there are 208 prosecution witnesses, 171 documents, and 27 forensic science laboratory (FSL) reports in the case.
During the hearing, the court asked the state government counsel to confirm whether four accused in a separate case lodged over the killing of three occupants of the car, which allegedly mowed down farmers, are still in custody.
The bench fixed the matter for further hearing on January 19.
Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi appeared for Mishra, advocate Prashant Bhushan for the victims while senior advocate Garima Prasad represented the state government.
On December 12, 2022, the court sought to know the time to be taken for completing trial in the case.
It also asked the state government how long can he be kept behind the bars as putting him inside the jail indefinitely amounted to prejudging him and there has to be balance between rights of the accused and the victims.
Last month, the trial court had framed charges against Mishra and 12 others for alleged offences of murder, criminal conspiracy and others in the case.
