The Supreme Court on Thursday refused to further relax the bail conditions imposed on Ashish Mishra, the main accused in the 2021 Lakhimpur Kheri violence case, Bar and Bench reported.

This came after the counsel for Ashish Mishra, the son of former Union minister Ajay Misra Teni, told the bench that the bail terms restricting his travel prevented him from attending family events, including his daughter’s birthday celebrations.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Surya Kant observed that there were no grounds to entertain the plea and dismissed it.

On October 3, 2021, violence had broken out after a vehicle belonging to Ashish Mishra had allegedly run over a group of demonstrators in Lakhimpur Kheri. Eight persons had died.

They had been protesting against the Union government’s now-repealed agricultural laws

Ajay Misra Teni was the Union minister of state for home affairs at the time.

Ashish Mishra was arrested on October 9, 2021. Four months later, the Allahabad High Court granted him bail.

However, families of those killed in the violence challenged the bail order in the Supreme Court. It cancelled Mishra’s bail in April 2022.

After setting aside the High Court’s bail order, the Supreme Court asked that another bench be assigned to hear his plea against the cancellation of his bail. The new bench denied Ashish Mishra bail in July 2022, after which he moved the Supreme Court once again to challenge the order.

In July 2024, Ashish Mishra was granted bail by the Supreme Court, but he was restricted to staying only in Delhi or Lucknow. In May, the bail conditions were relaxed to allow him to visit Lakhimpur Kheri every Saturday evening and return to Lucknow on Sunday.

Edited by Sneha.

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