Sambalpur court vandalism: Orissa HC grants conditional bail to 29 lawyers

Cuttack: The Orissa High Court has granted conditional bail to 29 lawyers of Sambalpur Bar Association who had been arrested in connection with the vandalism at the Sambalpur district judge court on December 12 last year.

Some people had allegedly vandalized the Sambalpur district judge court during an agitation demanding a permanent bench of Orissa High Court in the western Odisha.

The HC has directed the lawyers not to participate in any demonstration or dharna as part of the bail condition.

This apart, the lawyers have been told to refrain from giving any statement on the issue.

A division bench of Justice V. Narasingh had concluded hearing on the bail pleas of the arrested lawyers yesterday and reserved its verdict.

Earlier, at least 29 lawyers of Sambalpur Bar Association including Pramod Kumar Saraf, Sureswar Mishra, Pradip Bahidar, Ratanlal Agrawal, Surendra Mohanty, Satyanarayan Panda, Bishnu Prasad Padhi, Shiv Kumar Diwan, Ashis Guru, Badydhar Panda and Bimalkant Mahapatra had filed their bail petitions in the HC.

Notably, the Supreme Court of India had criticized the Odisha Police for its failure to prevent violence at the Sambalpur district court during the agitation.

The Bar Council of India had also suspended the licences of several lawyers of Sambalpur Bar Association in connection with the incident.

The apex court had then remarked that the demand for a permanent bench of Orissa High Court in the western part of Odisha has become obsolete with the passage of time and advent of technology. Any hope for a circuit bench of Orissa HC in the region was lost due to the unruly bahaviour of the lawyers of Sambalpur Bar Association.