The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked former Union Minister Ajay Mishra's son Ashish Mishra to respond to the allegations that witnesses were being threatened in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence case [Ashish Mishra Alias Monu vs State of UP]..A Bench of Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan asked the counsel representing Mishra to file an affidavit after he denied the allegations."Now there are some photographs. There are allegations of threatening the witnesses," the Court remarked..In response, Senior Advocate Siddharth Dave, representing Mishra, said the photos had been filed with oblique reasons. "It is not me. I have the photos... this is not meant for this Court. It is meant for outside.. Every time, it is listed something like this comes up," Dave said.Following this, the Court said,"You have to say this on affidavit. Mr. Dave says an affidavit will be filed. List this after 4 weeks.".Mishra is accused of killing at least four farmers who had assembled in Lakhimpur Kheri, Uttar Pradesh in 2021 to protest against the now revoked farm laws. He is currently on bail.A total of eight people including a journalist were killed in the violence. A Special investigation team (SIT) of the Uttar Pradesh Police later filed a 5,000-page chargesheet against Mishra and others before the trial court.The apex court has been monitoring the trial in the case..Mishra was granted interim bail by the top court in January 2023. He was granted regular bail in July this year.As part of the bail conditions, Mishra is permitted to stay either in Delhi or in Lucknow. However, he is allowed to visit Lakhimpur Kheri for trial. "The petitioner shall, however, abide by the terms and conditions imposed vide order dated 25.01.2023 and shall be entitled to go to the place where the trial is pending a day prior to the date fixed in the trial case," the top court's order dated July 22 said..On November 12, the Allahabad High Court granted regular bail to a total of 12 co-accused in the case. It had observed that a significant number of witnesses remain to be examined with no likelihood of the trial concluding in the near future..[Live Coverage below]
