ODIYA Journalist Granted Conditional Bail After making Alleged disparaging Remark on Konark Temple

ABJIJIT  Mitra, an Odisha  based  journalist, arrested on Thursday by the state police  for allegedly making derogatory remarks on the 13th century   Sun Temple located at  Konark, near pilgrim city Puri,  was granted bail by a Delhi court .The  court has directed him to join the probe. The court granted relief to Mitra on a personal bond of Rs 1 lakh and one surety of the like amount on a plea moved by him, while directing him to join the investigation in the state by September 28.Earlier, Odisha Assembly adopted a privilege motion against Mitra for his alleged derogatory remarks. Mitra, who is made accused in the case along with former BJD-leader Baijayant Panda, was arrested near Hazrat Nizamuddin in the national capital and was produced before Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Manish Khurana, with Odisha police seeking his transit remand for three days to take him to his native state. Odisha police told the court that Mitra “gave unpalatable and irresponsible remarks on Konarak Sun Temple by uploading view on social media with an intention to outrage and to wound religious feeling which may create communal disharmony among  the  people.It further said that the “accused took his photograph along with some portion of Konark Sun Temple and he tweeted against the Odiya people”.The tweets were made on September 14.In his bail application, moved by advocate Tarun Goomber, Mitra said his custody was not required. A case was filed under various sections of Indian Penal Code, including 153-A (promoting enmity between different groups on the ground of religion, grace, place of birth, residence, language etc) and 295-A (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs).If convicted, the accused may get a maximum of three-year jail term. The court noted that the accused was arrested after he appeared before police at Hazrat Nizamuddin Police station on the directions of the investigating officer (IO) in the case.”In these circumstances, I have no doubt to disbelieve that the accused will not join the investigation of the case at Odisha with the IO,” the judge said.

Incidentally,  The temple was originally built at the mouth of the river Chandrabhaga, but the waterline has receded since then. The temple has been built in the form of a giant ornamented chariot of the Sun god, Surya. It has twelve pairs of elaborately carved stone wheels some of which are 3 meters wide and is pulled by seven pairs of horses. The temple follows the traditional style of Kalinga architecture. It is carefully oriented towards the east so that the first rays of sunrise strikes the principal entrance. The temple is built from Khondalite rocks. (Wikipedia) his is not just an artistic masterpiece but a scientific laboratory. It’s an astonishing piece of ancient monument and the advance scientific development of Classical India. Meanwhile, On Monday, a helicopter flown by Panda was seized by police for alleged attempt to land on Odisha’s Chilika lake  which has been declared  a “no-flying eco-sensitive zone”. Panda, who quit the BJD in May after a long-drawn feud, called the seizure a “brazen attempt to handicap my movement”. The helicopter was seized after an FIR was registered against the alleged attempted landing of an unauthorised aircraft when Panda was riding a chopper across a stretch of coastal Odisha up to Konark.