Ashish Mishra, son of Minister of State for Home Affairs Ajay Mishra Teni, and 12 others will face trial for murder, rioting and criminal conspiracy among other charges in the case of mowing down of protesting farmers in Lakhimpur Kheri district in October 2021, a Uttar Pradesh court said on Tuesday.
The trial will begin in the court of additional district judge Sunil Kumar Verma in Lakhimpur Kheri from December 16.
The framing of charges took place a day after the court rejected Mr. Mishra’s discharge petition, district government counsel Arvind Tripathi said.
The 12 other accused are Ankit Das, Nandan Das Bisht, Satyam Tripathi, Lateef alias Kalley, Shekhar Bharti, Sumit Jaiswal, Dharmendra Kumar Banjara, Ashish Pandey, Ullas Kumar Trivedi, Rinku Rana, Luvkush and Shishupal. All of the 13 accused, including Mr. Mishra, are in jail.
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“They all will face trial under Sections 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapons), 149 (unlawful assembly), 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder), 326 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt by dangerous weapons or means), 427 (mischief causing damage), 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code and Section 177 of the Motor Vehicles Act,” Mr. Tripathi said.
Charges under various Sections of the Arms Act were also framed against Mr. Mishra and a few others, he added.
The 14th accused, Virendra Shukla, has been charged under Section 201 (causing disappearance of evidence) of the IPC.
The Uttar Pradesh Police had booked the accused for allegedly moving down four farmers who were protesting against the visit of Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya to Tikunia village on October 3, 2021. The protest was part of the then ongoing farmer’s movement.
Mr. Mishra was arrested almost a week after the incident. The police filed the chargesheet in the case in January this year. The Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court granted bail to Mr. Mishra in February but it was later set aside by the Supreme Court.
