An Uttar Pradesh court on Tuesday framed charges against 14 persons including Ashish Mishra, the son of Union minister Ajay Mishra, in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence case, Live Law reported.

Mishra has been charged for a number of offences including murder, attempt to murder, rioting and criminal conspiracy. The trial will begin on December 16.

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Lakhimpur Kheri district of Uttar Pradesh during a protest against the Centre’s agricultural laws that have now been repealed.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

Mishra was first arrested in the case on October 9. He walked out of jail on February 15 after the Allahabad High Court granted him bail on February 10.

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. He is currently lodged in Lakhimpur prison.

On Monday, a district court in Lakhimpur Kheri had rejected discharge applications filed by him and other accused persons, reported Live Law.

On Tuesday, the court said that the Ashish Mishra and 13 others will be tried under sections 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting armed with deadly weapons), 149 (offence committed in prosecution of common object), 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder), 326 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt by dangerous weapons), 427 (mischief causing damage), 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code and Section 177 of the Motor Vehicles Act.

One other accused person, Virendra Shukla, has been charged under section 201 (causing disappearance of evidence) of the Indian Penal Code.

On Monday, the court had deleted Section 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Indian Penal Code from the chargesheet, reported The Indian Express.

Government counsel Arvind Tripathi said the court held that since unlawful assembly had already been included as one of the charges, Section 34 was not needed.