SC rejects Teni’s plea on transfer of appeal in 22-yr-old murder case

 

Mishra had challenged an August 24 administrative order passed by the chief justice of the Allahabad high court rejecting his prayer to transfer the appeal from the bench in Lucknow to the principal bench at Prayagraj.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court has declined a plea filed by Union minister of state for home Ajay Mishra ‘Teni’ seeking the transfer of a 2004 appeal by the then Uttar Pradesh government against his acquittal in a 22-year-old murder case.

Mishra had challenged an August 24 administrative order passed by the chief justice of the Allahabad high court rejecting his prayer to transfer the appeal from the bench in Lucknow to the principal bench at Prayagraj. In his plea, the Union minister said that the senior counsel representing him was based at Allahabad and due to his old age found it difficult to go all the way to Lucknow for arguments.

Dismissing the plea on October 21, a bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) Uday Umesh Lalit and Justice Bela M Trivedi said: “In case the learned senior counsel (representing Mishra) is unable to come down to Lucknow, a request for allowing said counsel to make submissions through videoconferencing may be considered by the high court.”

Without entering into the merits of the demands made in the petition, the bench added: “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 learned senior counsel would serve the ends of justice.”

The case pertains to the murder of 24-year-old Prabhat Gupta, a local trader at Tikuniya in Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur Kheri district in July 2000 allegedly over a business rivalry. In 2004, a district court acquitted Mishra, but the order was challenged by the victim’s brother Rajiv Gupta before the high court. The Uttar Pradesh government also filed an appeal against the acquittal before the high court’s Lucknow bench.

Besides Mishra’s appeal, the apex court also took up a writ petition filed by the victim trader’s brother alleging that the appeal before the high court, which has been pending since 2004, was being repeatedly held up by the accused who wields influence and power. The matter was last heard by the high court in March 2018 and till date no judgment has been delivered.

The Supreme Court, however, noted in its order: “We do not wish to go into all these issues.”

Senior advocates JM Sharma and VB Gupta, appearing for the complainant, and senior advocate Sidharth Dave, appearing for Mishra, accepted the court’s suggestion to request the high court for taking up the appeal on November 10 while keeping the option open for Mishra’s lawyers to argue through videoconferencing.

Mishra, who became a junior minister in the Narendra Modi government in 2021 after his re-election to the Lok Sabha in 2019, had come into limelight after his son Ashish was accused of mowing down four farmers during the protest against now-repealed farm laws at Lakhimpur Kheri on October 3 last year. The minister represents Kheri constituency in Parliament.

Ashish Mishra was granted bail by the Allahabad high court, but the Supreme Court set it aside in April at the instance of the families of deceased who said they were not heard before passing of the order. His bail plea was later rejected by the high court on July 26 against which he approached the top court where the matter is still pending.