Abhijit Iyer-Mitra walks out of Jail

ONI Bureau: Defence Writer Abhijit Iyer-Mitra, who had been in jail since October 23, 2018, finally walked out of jail after getting bail from the JMFC Court in Konark earlier today. Abhijit will head to Chennai to meet his mother VS Chandralekha, Tamil Nadu’s first Woman Collector and a close associate of Subramanian Swamy.

Abhijit was discharged from the Capital Hospital this evening, as he was admitted there following illness a few days ago.

The Orissa High Court had granted Abhijit bail yesterday after the Odisha Government decided not to accord sanction of his prosecution and withdraw all cases against him. The JMFC Court in Konark granted him bail today on a surety amount of Rs 20,000 and an assurance that he won’t make any “distasteful remarks” in future.

Abhijit was arrested for allegedly passing derogatory remarks against Konark Temple, Odisha and Odia culture. He had termed those as satire or joke, but the Supreme Court had slammed him saying he was inciting religious passion.

Abhijit had also passed negative comments against the Lawmakers in Odisha. But, the Assembly House Committee pardoned him after he tendered an unconditional apology. Based on his appeal and apology as well as the outrage in national media, the Odisha Government decided to withdraw all cases against him.

Also Read: Odisha Govt not to prosecute Abhijit Iyer-Mitra; to withdraw Cases