Lakhimpur case: SC asks UP police to depute officer to probe witness threat complaint

A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi said the earlier condition that political workers or the public shall not be associated with such celebrations in any capacity will be imposed

The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the Uttar Pradesh police to depute a senior level officer to probe the complaint of a witness being influenced in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence case after the state government confirmed the allegation to be true.

The top court had directed Mishra to stay out of Lakhimpur till the pendency of the trial in the case. (File ANI photo)

The complaint assumes significance as one of the accused in this case is Ashish Mishra, the son of former Union minister Ajay Mishra, who is currently out on bail since 2023. Mishra is accused of mowing down four farmers at Lakhimpur on October 3, 2021, as they protested the now-scrapped farm laws.

A bench of justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi said, “Since the preliminary exercise (of verifying the complaint) was conducted by a deputy superintendent of police (DSP), either the same officer or an officer of equivalent rank shall investigate this first information report (FIR).”

The order was passed after the UP government told the court that the allegation by the witness was found to be of some substance.

The state submitted a status report and said, “The complainant was contacted on September 19 and his statement was recorded. He confirmed there was some kind of pressure on him not to depose during trial.”

The status further informed that based on the complaint, a first information report (FIR) was registered on October 4 under sections 195A (threatening a person to give false witness), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code.

On August 7, the court had pulled up the state for not probing the complaint by the witness made on June 20 on the pretext that he was not willing to come to the police station and register a case.

The court had asked the state to ensure that the police approach the complainant and get to the root of the matter on whether he was approached or intimidated on behalf of the accused against giving his testimony during the trial.

The witness Baljinder Singh had approached the top court in January this year alleging that a person had called and threatened him against deposing in the trial.

Advocate Prashant Bhushan appearing for Singh informed the court on Tuesday that despite an order passed by the court on March 24 directing the police to investigate the complaint and file a status report, nothing had proceeded.

On Thursday, Bhushan requested the court to expedite the trial as about 100 witnesses remain to be examined. The state informed that the number of witnesses has been brought down to 131 from 208. Of these, 23 witnesses have been examined and the remaining will be examined on October 27.

The bench was not in favour of expediting the trial as it would amount to the top court monitoring the trial. Further, it may sometimes even inconvenience the witnesses and affect trial in other cases too.

The accused Mishra was represented by senior advocate Siddharth Dave who requested the court to allow his client to be with his family during Diwali. The bail condition prohibits him from entering Lakhimpur Kheri, except on the date when he is required during trial.

The court permitted Mishra to spend Diwali with his family on October 20 and 21 on the condition that he will return by October 22 and will not hold any public meeting during his visit. Already, the bail order places an express bar against Mishra or any person in his family or supporters to exert influence or threaten the witnesses.

A total of eight people were killed in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence. Mishra was arrested within six days of the incident in October 2021. According to the police charge sheet, the killings were pre-planned as Mishra arrived in an SUV along with a convoy of 3-4 vehicles at the site where the farmers were protesting. One journalist was also killed .

Infuriated by this act, protesting farmers pulled out three occupants from the car and lynched them. A separate criminal case in this regard was registered by police and is pending trial. The four farmers accused in the case were granted regular bail in January 2023.