The Supreme Court on Tuesday relaxed the bail conditions of Ashish Mishra, the son of Union minister Ajay Mishra and the prime accused in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence case. The court has allowed him to travel to Delhi to look after his ailing mother and daughter, Live Law reported.

Farmer bodies have alleged that a vehicle belonging to Ashish Mishra had run over a group of demonstrators on October 3, 2021. Eight persons, including four farmers, were killed on that day after violence broke out in the Lakhimpur Kheri district of Uttar Pradesh during a protest against the Centre’s agricultural laws that have now been repealed.

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At Tuesday’s hearing, a bench of Justices Surya Kant and Dipankar Datta modified the bail conditions, which so far barred Mishra from travelling to Uttar Pradesh and the National Capital Region. Mishra’s counsel told the court that his mother has been admitted to the Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital in Delhi and that his daughter needs treatment for deformities in her leg.

The judges allowed Mishra to stay in the national capital but said that he cannot address the media or any public meeting during this time.

Mishra was first arrested in the case on October 9, 2021. He walked out of jail on February 15 after the Allahabad High Court granted him bail. However, families of those killed in the violence challenged the bail order in the Supreme Court, which overturned the High Court verdict and cancelled Mishra’s bail on April 18.

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After setting aside the High Court’s bail order, the Supreme Court had asked to assign another bench to hear his plea. The new bench denied him bail in July, following which Mishra again moved the Supreme Court, challenging the order.

On January 25, the Supreme Court granted him interim bail for eight weeks. But since then the bail has been extended with the bench receiving progress reports of the trial from time-to-time.