Lakhimpur Kheri, 6 December: A court here on Tuesday framed charges against Ashish Mishra and 13 others in connection with the October 2021 violence in Lakhimpur Kheri?s Tikunia in which four farmers were killed. Ashish Mishra, son of union Minister of State for Home Ajay Kumar Mishra, is the main accused in the case.
District government counsel (Criminal) Arvind Tripathi said the court of additional district judge Sunil Kumar Verma fixed December 16, as the next date of hearing.
Advocate Tripathi said that among the accused on whom the charges were framed, along with Ashish Mishra, Ankit Das, Nandan Singh Bisht, Latif Kale, Satyam alias Satya Prakash Tripathi, Shekhar Bharti, Sumit Jaiswal, Ashish Pandey, Lavkush Rana, Shishupal , Ullas Kumar aka Mohit Trivedi, Rinku Rana, Virendra Shukla and Dharmendra Banjara.
He further said that Virendra Shukla has been charged under section 201 of the Indian Penal Code. The rest of the accused were charged under sections 147, 148, 149, 302, 307, 326, 427 and 120 (b) of the Indian Penal Code and section 177 of the Motor Vehicles Act.
Tripathi said that apart from this, charges under the Arms Act have also been framed against Ashish Mishra, Ankit Das, Nandan Singh Bisht, Satya Prakash Tripathi, Latif Kale and Sumit Jaiswal. He said that the court has asked the prosecution to present the evidence in the court on December 16.
It may be noted that eight persons were killed in the violence that took place on October 2021 during a protest by farmers against the visit of Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya. According to an FIR lodged by the police, four farmers were crushed to death in the incident by an SUV in which Ashish Mishra was sitting.
The driver and two BJP workers were allegedly beaten to death by angry farmers after the accident. A journalist was also killed in the violence following demonstrations by farmers and opposition parties against agricultural laws.
The protesters killed in the violence were demonstrating against the three agricultural laws of the Center which were later withdrawn by the union government.
Ashish Mishra was out on bail after the UP elections. The case of Ashish Mishra’s release on bail reached the Supreme Court and the Supreme Court, while canceling the bail, sent the case to the Allahabad High Court for fresh consideration. After this, the bail plea was canceled by the Allahabad High Court.
After 90 days of the incident, the SIT had filed a 5000-page chargesheet against Ashish Mishra and other 13 accused in the Tikunia violence.
