Ashish Mishra, son of junior Home Minister Ajay Mishra, will face trial for allegedly running over farmers in Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur Kheri in February of this year. His appeal to have him dropped from the case was rejected by a court today. In addition, the court stated that the charges would be framed the following day.
Ashish Mishra is accused of being the driver of a Mahindra Thar that ran over four farmers and a journalist on October 3 of last year at Lakhimpur Kheri while they were participating in a protest march against three farm laws that have since been repealed.
After the intervention of the Supreme Court, he was apprehended only a few days later; the court ordered an investigation after the police and administration were accused of moving too slowly on the investigation. He was apprehended after the Supreme Court.
Videos that showed the car intentionally driving into the farmers were widely shared, which sparked outrage and fierce criticism of the state Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and his administration.