Anti-Odisha Remarks: Hearing On Abhijit Iyer Mitra’s Case Postponed

Bhubaneswar/New Delhi: All eyes in Odisha were on the Supreme Court hearing on Abhijit Iyer Mitra vs State of Odisha case earlier scheduled for Monday.

However, the case has been removed from the updated list and it will no longer be heard in the apex court today.

It was earlier referred to a beach comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices Ranjan Gogoi and A M Khanwilkar.

On September 27, the apex court had extended Abhijit’s interim bail till October 5 and directed the Odisha Police to provide him with adequate protection if he needs to appear before the Orissa High Court during his visit to Odisha.

Abhijit, whose derogatory remarks on Odisha, the Sun Temple of Konark and Lord Jagannath had triggered widespread resentment across the state, was arrested by the Odisha Police after being interrogated at the Nizamuddin Police Station in New Delhi on September 20.

However, the Metropolitan Magistrate of the Saket Court rejected the appeal of the Odisha Police to take Abhijit on a transit remand to the state for further interrogation, as they failed to produce relevant evidence to justify his arrest, and granted conditional bail to him till September 28.

The court had also directed Abhijit to appear at the Konark police station after September 28 in connection with a case registered against on the basis of a complaint by Bimbadhar Beura for his derogatory remarks on the Sun Temple.

With his interim bail extended till October 5, Abhijit skipped appearing at the Konark police station after September 28 as directed by the Delhi court. “The apex court on October 6 will take a decision on whether Abhijit would appear in the police station at Konark,” Abhijit’s counsel Yatinder Choudhury had said.