Supreme Court Seeks Allahabad HC Report on Lakhimpur Kheri Trial Judge

The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court to examine allegations against the judicial officer conducting the trial in the 2021 Lakhimpur Kheri violence case. The direction came from a Bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, which asked for the inquiry report to be submitted in a sealed cover and posted the matter for hearing after two weeks.

The allegations were raised in an application filed through advocate Prashant Bhushan, who appeared for an eyewitness in the case. He told the court that the presiding officer had withdrawn several matters involving offences under the narcotics law and the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act to himself and then acquitted the accused persons. Such withdrawal, he argued, was not permissible under the law.

Bhushan further submitted that the conduct of the presiding officer would shock the conscience of the court. He also alleged that a non-bailable warrant had been issued against his client after the eyewitness could not appear before the court because of illness. In addition, he claimed that the public prosecutor had been changed midway through the proceedings and that the new incumbent had only four months of experience.

The Bench directed the Uttar Pradesh government to identify a senior public prosecutor in Lakhimpur Kheri district with substantial experience in conducting sessions trials, and to inform the court of the same within two weeks.

The main accused facing trial in the case is Ashish Mishra, son of former Union minister Ajay Mishra. The violence occurred on October 3, 2021, in Tikunia, in Uttar Pradesh's Lakhimpur Kheri district, during a farmers' protest against a visit by Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya. Four farmers were mowed down by a sports utility vehicle. A driver and two BJP workers were then allegedly lynched by angry farmers, and a journalist also died in the violence, taking the overall toll to eight.

In December 2022, the trial court framed charges against Mishra and 12 others, including murder and criminal conspiracy, clearing the way for the trial in the main case to begin.