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Lakhimpur Kheri violence: HC grants bail to Union minister's son Ashish Mishra
The bail order of Ashish Mishra, arrested on October 9, 2021, comes on a day the first phase polling began in Uttar Pradesh.
The Allahabad high court on Thursday granted bail to Ashish Mishra, son of Union minister of state (home) Ajay Mishra 'Teni', the key accused in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence case.
The bail comes on a day the first phase polling began in Uttar Pradesh. Voters, mainly from farm-dominated region of western part of the state, are exercising their franchise in the first phase.
Ashish was arrested on October 9, 2021, in the Lakhimpur Kheri case in which at least four farmers and a journalist were killed during a protest against the now-repealed farm laws.
Ashish Mishra was declared the main accused in the chargesheet filed by Special Investigation (SIT) in the incident that took place on October 3.
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In the incident that shocked the nation, the four farmers were crushed to death under the wheels of a convoy of cars, including the one belonging to the Union minister.
The convoy had run over a group of farmers demonstrating against the visit of deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya to Teni's native place for a programme. Teni is a second term BJP MP from Kheri.
Opposition parties have been demanding Teni's dismissal from the Union ministry over the issue.
Mishra is counted among the tallest leaders from Lakhimpur Kheri. His influence grew considerably after leading the movement in a rape and murder case in 2011. The next year, he was chosen as the MLA from Nighasan. In 2014 and 2019, he was elected MP from Lakhimpur Kheri and was also made a Union minister.
His parliamentary constituency comprises Palia, Nighasan, Lakhimpur, Srinagar and Gola Gokarna Nath Assembly seats. The BJP had won all the five seats in 2017.
However, despite being the MP from Lakhimpur, he is not actively involved in campaigning for the Assembly polls as the BJP does not want to risk its chances by using him, a PTI report quoted sources as saying.
