India News | See BJP's Real Face, It Protects Killers: AAP After SC Cancels Ashish Mishra's Bail in Lakhimpur Kheri Case
Get latest articles and stories on India at LatestLY. After the Supreme Court cancelled the bail granted to Union Minister Ajay Mishra's son in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence case, the AAP on Monday called upon the people to see the "real face" of the BJP, alleging that it was trying to protect the accused since day one of the incident.
New Delhi, Apr 18 (PTI) After the Supreme Court cancelled the bail granted to Union Minister Ajay Mishra's son in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence case, the AAP on Monday called upon the people to see the "real face" of the BJP, alleging that it was trying to protect the accused since day one of the incident.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) also said that while the Uttar Pradesh government should have challenged the bail granted by the Allahabad High Court to the minister's son, Ashish Mishra, in the case, family members of the victims had to approach the apex court to seek relief.
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The Yogi Adityanath government did not approach the apex court against the Allahabad High Court decision even as the special investigation team headed by a retired judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court had recommended for it, AAP chief spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj said.
The BJP government at the Centre and in Uttar Pradesh tried their best to "defend and save" Ashish Mishra right from the day "four of farmers were crushed under wheels during their peaceful protest" in Lakhimpur Kheri in October last year, he alleged.
"BJP and its governments, from the Prime Minister's Office to the Office of the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, and from there to the investigation officer, all came together and hatched every possible conspiracy to save the killer, defend the bail granted to a killer," Bharadwaj told reporters at the AAP's headquarters here.
The Supreme Court earlier in the day cancelled the bail granted to Ashish Mishra in the violence case and asked him to surrender in a week, observing that the Allahabad High Court had shown "tearing hurry" in giving relief and adopted a "myopic view of the evidence".
The top court also said the "victims" were denied "a fair and effective hearing" in the high court, noting that a "victim" has unbridled participatory rights from the stage of investigation till the culmination of proceedings in an appeal or revision.
Holding that the high court order cannot be sustained and deserved to be set aside, the top court termed the Lakhimpur Kheri incident, if true as per allegations, as "an awakening call" to state authorities to reinforce adequate protection for the life, liberty, and properties of the eye or injured witnesses, as well as for the families of the deceased.
At the press conference, AAP spokesperson Bharadwaj read out some of the observations that the apex court made during the hearing of the matter and said, "It is correct to say that the BJP and its governments protect all goons, loafers and killers."
He also appealed to the people of the country to see the "real face" of the BJP and understand it.
"Every goon, killer, rapist wish if they were in the BJP, they would have also got its support. They (BJP) shamelessly provide their support to the extent it seems that standing by the killers, rapist, is the real patriotism," Bharadwaj charged.
"I want to tell the people that this is the truth of the BJP, you all should understand," he said.
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 mowed down by an SUV, in which Ashish Mishra was seated, according to the Uttar Pradesh Police FIR. Following the incident, the driver and two BJP workers were allegedly lynched by angry farmers.
A journalist also died in the violence that had triggered outrage among opposition parties and farmer groups agitating over the Centre's now-repealed agricultural reform laws ahead of the assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh and four other states.
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)