Guwahati: The Uttar Pradesh government’s appeal against Ajay Mishra’s acquittal in a murder case that is more than 20 years old was rejected by the Supreme Court of India on Wednesday.
It was explained to a SC panel made up of Chief Justice U U Lalit and Bela M Trivedi that the transfer was requested on the grounds that the senior attorney stationed in Allahabad is too old to travel to Lucknow to present his case.
The bench observed, “We do not go into all these issues as in our view, a request to the high court to hear the appeal for disposal on November 10, 2022, the date given by the high court and agreed upon by both the senior counsel would serve the ends of justice.”
“The high court may take into account a motion to let the senior counsel to present arguments via video conference if he or she is unable to go to Lucknow,” the bench added.
It should be mentioned that the case involves the 2000 murder of Prabhat Gupta, who was 24 years old and was killed in Lakhimpur Kheri.
Ajay Mishra, the Union minister of state for home affairs, was tried in the case but was found not guilty in 2004. Following that, the state had submitted the appeal. Mishra and others were exonerated in 2004 by a Lakhimpur Kheri court of additional session’s judge due to a lack of evidence.
The victim’s relatives filed a revision petition in opposition to the ruling while the state government filed an appeal.
Mishra had petitioned the SC to overturn the administrative ruling by the Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court that had rejected the government’s request to have the appeal transferred from Lucknow to Allahabad.
Moreover, his son, Ashish Mishra was the main accused in an incident in Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur Kheri last year. He had been accused of running over a group of protestors with his car in which several had died.