Lakhimpur case: SC to hear on March 15 plea against grant of bail to Ashish Mishra
New Delhi, Mar 11: The Supreme Court agreed to list for hearing on March 15 a plea challenging the grant of bail by the Allahabad High Court to Ashish Mishra, son of Union minister Ajay Mishra, in connection with the Lakhimpur Kheri violence that left eight people, including four farmers, dead.
A bench headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana was told by lawyer Prashant Bhushan that the plea, which was to be listed Friday, has not been in the list of business, and meanwhile, there was an attack on one of the prime witnesses of the case on Thursday night.
There has been a mistake. They (Registry officials) are listing it on Tuesday. We will take it up on next Tuesday, said the bench which also comprised Justices A S Bopanna and Hima Kohli.
The matter was mentioned for urgent listing by Bhushan on March 4 and the court had agreed to hear it on March 11.
Bhushan had submitted that the other accused in the case were moving courts for grant of bail citing the relief granted to Ashish Mishra.
The bench had asked the lawyer to intimate the high court that the top court is hearing the plea for cancellation of bail.
A single-judge bench of the high court, on February 10, had granted bail to Mishra who had spent four months in custody.
Three family members of farmers, who were killed in the violence, have sought a stay on the February 10 bail order of the high court, saying the verdict was unsustainable in the eyes of law as there has been no meaningful and effective assistance by the state to the court in the matter .
Recently, another plea seeking cancellation of bail of Ashish Mishra was filed by advocates Shiv Kumar Tripathi and CS Panda on whose letter the apex court had taken suo motu cognisance of the incident.
On October 3 last year, eight people were killed in Lakhimpur Kheri during violence that erupted when farmers were protesting against Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya's visit to the area.
Four farmers were moved down by the SUV. A driver and two BJP workers were then allegedly lynched by angry farmers.
A journalist also died in the violence that triggered outrage among opposition parties and farmer groups agitating over the Centre's now-repealed agri laws.
On November 17 last year, the top court had appointed Justice Rakesh Kumar Jain, former judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, to monitor the probe by the Uttar Pradesh SIT.
The plea for cancellation of Mishra's bail has been filed by farmers, Jagjeet Singh, Pawan Kashyap, and Sukhwinder Singh, through lawyer Bhushan.
The lack of any discussion in the high court's order as regards the settled principles for grant of bail is on account of lack of any substantive submissions to this effect by the State as the accused wields substantial influence over the state government as his father is a union minister from the same political party that rules the State.
The impugned order is unsustainable in eyes of law as there has been no meaningful and effective assistance by the State to the court in the matter contrary to the object of the first Proviso to Section 439 of Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, which provides that in grave offences notice of bail application should ordinarily be given to the public prosecutor, the plea said.
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NEET student hangs self in Rajasthan's Sikar
Jaipur (PTI): A student preparing for the NEET examination allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself in a rented room in Rajasthan's Sikar on Friday, police said.
According to the police, the student allegedly hanged himself from a ceiling fan using his sister's scarf while one sister was attending coaching classes and the other was in the bathroom.
He had appeared in the NEET UG exam 2026, which was cancelled due to paper leak, they said.
Udyog Nagar SHO Rajesh Kumar said that the deceased, identified as Pradeep Meghwal, was a resident of Kanika ki Dhani village in Jhunjhunu's Gudha Gaudji area.
He had been living in a rented room in Sikar's Jaldhari Nagar area with his two sisters while preparing for NEET over the last three years.
His elder sister later found him hanging and informed the landlord and police after bringing him down, officials said.
The SHO said the body was kept at SK Hospital mortuary, and a postmortem had not been conducted.
The student's father, Rajesh Kumar Meghwal, told police that Pradeep's NEET examination had gone well and the family was expecting him to score around 650 marks.
Former Rajasthan deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot expressed grief over the incident and linked it to anxiety among students after reports of irregularities and paper leaks in NEET 2026.
Pilot said repeated paper leak incidents and cancellation of examinations were affecting students' mental health and demanded a time-bound investigation and strict action against those responsible.
