Key witness in Lakhimpur Kheri case attacked, Bhusan tells SC

New Delhi: Alleging that a prime witness in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence case was attacked on Thursday night, lawyer Prashant Bhushan sought urgent listing of the petition in Supreme Court filed by the families of the crime victims against the bail granted to accused Ashish Mishra, son of Union Minister Ajay Mishra.

To which, the court agreed to list the petition for hearing on March 15.

A bench headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana was told by Bhushan that the plea, which was to be listed Friday, has not been in the list of business, and meanwhile, there was an attack on one of the prime witnesses of the case on Thursday night.

There has been a mistake. They (Registry officials) are listing it on Tuesday. We will take it up on next Tuesday, said the bench which also comprised Justices A S Bopanna and Hima Kohli.

The matter was mentioned for urgent listing by Bhushan on March 4 and the court had agreed to hear it on March 11.

Bhushan had submitted that the other accused in the case were moving courts for grant of bail citing the relief granted to Ashish Mishra.

The bench had asked the lawyer to intimate the high court that the top court is hearing the plea for cancellation of bail.

A single-judge bench of the high court, on February 10, had granted bail to Mishra who had spent four months in custody.

Three family members of farmers, who were killed in the violence, have sought a stay on the February 10 bail order of the high court, saying the verdict was unsustainable in the eyes of law as there has been no meaningful and effective assistance by the state to the court in the matter.

Recently, another plea seeking cancellation of bail of Ashish Mishra was filed by advocates Shiv Kumar Tripathi and CS Panda on whose letter the apex court had taken suo motu cognisance of the incident.

On October 3 last year, eight people were killed in Lakhimpur Kheri during violence that erupted when farmers were protesting against Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya's visit to the area.