‘Will take 5 years for trial to conclude’: Trial judge to Supreme Court on Lakhimpur Kheri violence case

“The report of the learned Additional Sessions Judge says there are 208 witnesses, 171 documents and 27 FSL reports,” it said.

On the last date of hearing, the Supreme Court had sought the status of the trial from the sessions court.

Pointing out that there are two FIRs in the matter, the bench sought to know if there are accused in the other case as well, and if they have been arrested.

When the bench sought the status report of the second case, advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for families of some victims in the case in which Mishra is an accused, said material witnesses can be heard on a day-to-day basis first.

The bench pointed out that the report had said that one of the material witnesses developed fever the day he was to be examined, and said such practical difficulty will keep arising.

“If you speed this up, then this case will have to be tried at the cost of all other cases. That is why we asked the trial court,” the bench said.

Bhushan said this was a case in which a Special Investigation Team (SIT) was formed at the instance of the Supreme Court.

Stating that Mishra was the son of Union Minister of State for Home Ajay Mishra Teni and that witnesses had been attacked, Bhushan repeated his demand for a day-to-day trial.

Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Mishra, countered the charge and called it “completely false”.

Bhushan alleged that the state government was hand-in-glove with the accused which was why the SIT had been formed.

Uttar Pradesh Additional Advocate General (AAG) Garima Prashad rejected the allegation and said “this is our chargesheet”.

Referring to the second FIR on alleged lynching by farmers resulting in the death of a car driver and two others, the bench asked the AAG, “Can you bring in a formal status report on that case too?”.

It said it wanted to know if there are accused in the second case, and if they have been arrested.

“We want to know the particulars of the accused in the other FIR. How many have been arrested, what is the status, everything. We want to know how many of them are in custody,” it said.

On the second FIR, Rohatgi said, “It is our case. It is a case of mob violence that our jeep was attacked.”

The bench posted the matter for hearing on January 19 and directed the AAG to inform whether the accused in the second FIR are in custody.

Eight persons, including four farmers, were killed when a convoy of vehicles, including one belonging to Union MoS Ajay Mishra, ran over them on October 3, 2021.

The High Court had granted bail to Ashish Mishra in February 2022, but this was cancelled by the Supreme Court which sent the matter back to the High Court for reconsideration.

After hearing it again, the High Court rejected the bail plea in July last year, following which Ashish approached the Supreme Court.