Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Umerkote, Jul 2:

Congress leader Pradip Majhi and 18 party men, who were arrested on June 25 while staging demonstration in front of Raighar forest range office, were released from Umerkote sub jail in Odisha's Nabarangpur district today.

pradip majhi

After coming out of the jail, Majhi was warmly received by his supporters who took him on a procession around the town. "The fight for the rights of tribals will continue," Majhi said.

The Assistant Sessions Judge court, Umerkote had granted conditional bail to the former parliamentarian and 18 others, yesterday. The court directed them to furnish a guarantor and Rs 20,000 bail bond to secure their release. Besides, the court laid conditions that they would cooperate with police in the investigation and refrain from repeating such incident.

On June 25, Majhi and his supporters were arrested after a demonstration in front of the Raighar forest range office turned violent. The demonstrators allegedly ransacked the office and beat up the forest ranger. The activists were demanding immediate allotment of forest land patta under Forest Rights Act (FRA) to tribals and conduct of a fresh survey to identify eligible BPL beneficiaries of ration cards under National Food Security Act (NFSA).