Setback for Odisha govt as SC grants bail to Sangram Mohanty

Sambad English Bureau Published On : Sep 19, 2014 at 11:45 PM Updated On : Feb 6, 2015 at 11:01 PM

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Sep 19:

The Odisha government ended up with egg on its face today after the Supreme Court granted bail to Sangram Mohanty, son of Jana Adhikar Manch (JAM) convenor Dandapani Mohanty, in eight criminal cases filed against him by the government.

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A division bench of the Supreme Court comprising Justice V Gopala Gowda and Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel granted bail to Sangram Mohanty today after hearing arguments from both sides.

In its charge sheet filed in the court, Odisha police had charged Sangram with launching attacks on policemen and innocent people by setting up landmines, setting off tiffin bombs, blowing up mobile towers and playing a prominent role in the Maoist movement by joining hands with Sabyasachi Panda.

Sangram is in jail since December 5, 2012 as an under-trial.

Making a forceful plea for grant of bail to Mohanty, Sangram’s lawyer Suresh Tripathy argued that the arrest of his client was an act of political vendetta by the Odisha government with the twin objectives of preventing people from joining the Odisha Jana Morcha (OJM) and to immobilise the fledgling party.

Sangram was arrested just five days after he joined the OJM and was implicated in at least 14 cases, he pointed out.

“The charges levelled by the Odisha police against Sangram are the outcome of a sick mind, an example of misuse of power and a subversion of the rule of law”, he said.

The fact that Sangram’s name was not there in the original FIR and was added much later proved that it was an act of political vendetta by the ruling party that curtailed the individual freedom of an innocent person and forced him to undergo incarceration for over 20 months, Tripathy contended.

It may be noted that the same bench had directed Sangram’s mother to file a fresh petition in the Odisha High Court asking for an impartial inquiry into the false allegations made against him.

Acting on her petition, the High Court has issued a notice to the Odisha government last week.