A higher court in Uttar Pradesh state on Thursday granted bail to the son of a federal Minister, nearly four months after he was held for allegedly running over a group of protesting farmers. "Ashish Mishra, my client, has been granted bail by the Allahabad High Court," his lawyer told the media. Ashish, the son of India's junior Home Minister Ajay Mishra, was arrested by the state police in October 2021 in connection with the incident in which eight people were killed in the state's Lakhimpur Kheri district. The arrest was made after the country's Supreme Court slammed the Uttar Pradesh government for apparently going slow in the case amid a nationwide outrage over the incident. Also read: India's largest state of Uttar Pradesh goes to polls "Union Minister of State for Home Ajay Mishra's son Ashish has been arrested after questioning. Ashish was evasive during his questioning," senior police officer Upendra Aggarwal then told the media. In fact, on October 3 last year, the junior Minister's motorcade ploughed into the farmers protesting farm reforms that they feared could hurt their livelihoods.  While four of them were killed after being run over by a car allegedly driven by Ashish, four others died in the ensuing clashes. The federal Minister, however, was quick to deny that his son was present on the spot. "There were miscreants who had attacked our workers. The farmers died when a car in my convoy overturned." The violence in Lakhimpur Kheri was just an aggressive manifestation of the year-long protest by millions of farmers who had been camping on the outskirts of Delhi in protest against three contentious farm laws. Also read: 4 members of Indian fake currency gang arrested by DMP The Indian government was finally forced to revoke the three farm laws later that year.

Indian police on Saturday night arrested the son of the country's junior Home Minister, who's accused of running over a group of farmers in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh. The arrest comes a day after the country's Supreme Court slammed the Uttar Pradesh government for apparently going slow in the case amid a nationwide outrage over the incident in which at least eight people were killed in Lakhimpur Kheri district last Sunday. "Union Minister of State for Home Ajay Mishra's son Ashish has been arrested after day-long questioning. He was not cooperating with the investigators. Ashish was evasive during his questioning," the deputy inspector general of UP Police, Upendra Aggarwal, told the media. Read: BGB hands over body of Indian smuggler who jumped into Padma In fact, Ashish was formally placed under arrest by the police around 11.30pm (local time) on Saturday after marathon questioning in connection with the case. On Friday, he skipped police summons for appearance. Last Sunday, the Minister's motorcade ploughed into a group of farmers protesting farm reforms that they feared could hurt their livelihoods. While four of them were killed after being run over by a car allegedly driven by Ashish, four others died in the ensuing clashes. To pacify the protesters, the state police on Monday booked the Minister's son for murder while the state government promised to pay a compensation of Indian rupees 45 lakh to the families of the deceased and Indian rupees 10 lakh to each of the injured. The federal Minister, however, was quick to deny that his son was not present on the spot. "There were miscreants who had attacked our workers with sticks and swords. The farmers died when a car in my convoy overturned." Read:Indian tourist visas to be issued from Oct 12 Last Sunday's violence in Lakhimpur Kheri was just an aggressive manifestation of the nearly year-long protest by tens of thousands of farmers camping on the outskirts of the national capital in protest against three contentious agricultural laws. While the Indian government insists that the reforms will help farmers get better prices by allowing them to sell their produce at markets and prices of their choice, the protesters fear the laws will favour private players at their expense. Uttar Pradesh, ruled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, is India's largest and politically important state, where assembly polls are barely a couple of months away.