The Supreme Court of India on Monday declined to interfere in the Allahabad High Court’s ruling acquitting politician Ajay Mishra. Mishra, currently a Minister of State in the Ministry of Home Affairs in the Government of India and a member of the ruling Bharatiya Janta Party, was charged with the murder of a student leader in 2000.
After careful examination of the available records, and following a detailed explanation from Kapil Sibal, the senior counsel representing the petitioner, the Supreme Court chose not to interfere with the findings of the two courts. As a consequence, the special leave petition against the Allahabad High Court order was rejected. This term refers to a plea made to the Supreme Court seeking permission for appeal against a decision made by a lower court, as defined by Article 136 of the Indian Constitution.
The Supreme Court’s non-intervention follows the Allahabad High Court’s orders from May 2019. The High Court’s decision upheld the earlier judgment of the trial court that acquitted Mishra and three other individuals accused in the Prabhat Gupta murder case.
Despite the state’s appeal stating that the acquittal contradicted the evidence, the court cited discrepancies in eyewitness statements and the delay in recording these accounts as the grounds for not pursuing further the charges against Mishra. The court highlighted inconsistencies in the prosecution’s narrative, specifically surrounding a supposed protest and the actual presence of witnesses at the crime scene.
According to the Allahabad High Court’s final verdict, suspicion alone cannot replace the need for proof beyond a reasonable doubt. The court eventually found the prosecution’s story untrustworthy and upheld the acquittal of the accused, pointing out that the judgment of the trial court judge was plausible given the court’s ability to assess witness demeanor.
In the Indian political landscape, Ajay Mishra plays a significant role as a Minister of State and a Member of Parliament in the 17th Lok Sabha. Despite his political achievements, he has previously been accused of various crimes and faced serious charges in multiple cases.