Rakesh Tikait hails SC's decision of cancelling bail to Ashish Mishra

|HT|

Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Rakesh Tikait hailed the Supreme Court's decision of cancelling bail to Union minister Ajay Mishra's son Ashish in the Lakhimpur Kheri case saying the order gave hope to farmers for justice. Taking to Twitter, Tikait, who spearheaded the year-long agitation against the Centre's three farm laws, said that the Uttar Pradesh government should work towards providing security, compensation and justice to the resentful farmers. The BKU leader also demanded that innocent farmers should be out of jail and the struggle will go on till full justice is achieved.

Earlier in the day, the Supreme Court cancelled the bail granted to Ashish Mishra.

The special bench of Chief Justice N V Ramana and Justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli also asked Mishra to surrender within a week. On April 4, the SC had reserved its order on a plea of farmers seeking cancellation of bail to him. In February, the Allahabad high court granted bail to Ashish.

Eight people, including four farmers, were killed in Lakhimpur Kheri on October 3 last year during the violence that erupted when farmers protested against Uttar Pradesh deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya's visit to the district. The UP Police's FIR said that the four farmers were mowed down by an SUV in which Ashish Mishra was travelling. The other deceased in the incident included a journalist, the SUV's driver and two Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers. The Union government has faced flak from opposition parties and farmer unions over the killings of Lakhimpur Kheri. The opposition parties have also demanded Union minister Ajay Mishra's resignation from the Modi cabinet.

After the Supreme Court's verdict on Monday, families of the victims thanked the top court for delivering justice.

“I'm thankful to the court for taking the right decision. We've full trust in the judiciary as it will punish culprits no matter if anyone is a Union minister's son or not,” Jagdeep Singh, son of one of the deceased farmers said.

(Except for the headline and the pictorial description, this story has not been edited by THE DEN staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)