Cuttack: The Orissa High Court granted conditional bail Friday to 29 lawyers of Sambalpur Bar Association. These 29 lawyers had been arrested December 12 last year as they were allegedly involved in acts of vandalism in connection with the vandalism at the Sambalpur district judge’s court. It has been alleged that these lawyers were involved in acts of vandalism during an agitation demanding a permanent bench of Orissa High Court in the western Odisha.
The Odisha High Court has directed the lawyers not to participate in any demonstration or dharna as part of the bail condition. They have also been asked not to make any statements on the social media platforms or to the media on this issue.
A division bench of Justice V Narasingh had concluded Thursday hearing on the bail pleas of the arrested lawyers and reserved its verdict. The bail was granted Friday.
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 at the Orissa High Court.
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 licenses of several lawyers of Sambalpur Bar Association in connection with the incident.