Among other observations, the court reasoned that since thousands of protestors were gathered at the site as told by witnesses, there is a “possibility” that the driver of the vehicle tried to speed the vehicle to “save himself” which led him to crash the vehicle into the farmers. The order by the court had been reserved last month. It was announced the day UP began polling for its first phase of elections.
“Indubitably, no firearm injury has been found on the body of the deceased or any other person, except the injury of the hit from the vehicle. Furthermore, in case the story of the prosecution is accepted, thousands of protesters gathered at the place of the incident and there might be a possibility that the driver tried to speed up the vehicle to save himself, on account of which, the incident had taken place,” a single bench of justice Rajeev Singh observed. Witnesses of the prosecution have reported that thousands of protestors had gathered at the site.
“While considering the overall facts of the case, this court cannot shut its eyes to the killing of three persons sitting in the Thar vehicle, including the driver, who were killed by the protesters. The photograph available in the case diary clearly reveals the brutality of the protesters, those who were beating the said three persons, namely, Hariom Mishra, Shubham Mishra and Shyam Sunder,” it further reasoned.
A kin of Raman Kashyap, a journalist and the fifth person who was killed during the incident, accused the court of having acted under “pressure” from the government at the Centre and the state while opposition party leaders expressed alarm.
“Only bail has been granted, the case has not been closed,” Pawan Kashyap, brother of Raman Kashyap said. “Our lawyers were not allowed to complete their arguments in the virtual hearing and a plea for a re-hearing was also not allowed… Somewhere there has been pressure of the government from the state and Centre and they have taken advantage of it but they will have to face the consequences of it too,” he said.
Sukhwinder Singh, father of Gurvinder Singh, one of the farmers who was killed allegedly by a firearm, said, “Earlier too we were not hopeful (of justice) and neither are we hopeful now. It is not right to be given bail so soon. PM Modi keeps talking about the 1984 Sikh riots but closes his eyes to what has happened in his government,” he said.
OP Rajbhar, chief of Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party said the bail was granted at the behest of BJP that wants to send a message to the Brahmins fearing a defeat in the elections. The SP chief said, “kahabardaar rehna zulmi hukumat ki siayasat se, unke paale pose baahar aa rahe hain…hiraasat se (beware of the politics of this cruel government as those they nurtured are coming out of jail).
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