The Orissa High Court on Tuesday granted bail to a man accused of posting a social media message inciting people to join him in the mission to assault a former Chief Justice of India with shoes for refusing permission to observe Rath Yatra.
A single-judge bench of Justice S.K. Panigrahi passed this order while hearing a Bail Application filed by Mukesh Jain in offences punishable under Sections 153/153-A/153-B/295-A/504/505/506 of the Indian Penal Code read with Section 66(F) of the Information Technology Act, 2008.
The allegation against the petitioner is that when the Bench headed by Justice S.A. Bobde, the then Chief Justice of India, refused to give permission for observance of the Car Festival (Rath Yatra) in 2020 at Puri its order dated 18th June, 2020, the petitioner, who happens to be the National Chairman of Dharma Rakshyak Shri Dara Sena, felt aggrieved and uploaded a message in a WhatsApp group urging people to join him on a mission to assault the Chief Justice of India with shoes. He did this with the conviction that the Chief Justice of India is solely responsible for halting the Rath Yatra and aggrieving Hindu sentiments therefrom. In the said message, the petitioner portrayed the Chief Justice of India as a Naxalite and Christian terrorist.
The petitioner has also allegedly made provocative statements inciting hatred and communal disharmony among the people of the nation.
Counsel for the Petitioner submitted that different cases at different police stations of the country have been registered for the aforementioned WhatsApp message. In the case of FIR dated June 25, 2020 at South Avenue Police Station, New Delhi the petitioner was arrested by the Police, interrogated and later released on Police bail.
Counsel for the State opposed the bail application of the petitioner with the submission that all of the offences registered against the petitioner are serious in nature having a grave impact on the society. Hence, his bail application should be rejected.
“However, having heard the Counsel for the parties and considering the factum of release of the Petitioner by the order of the Court as well as the length of detention of the petitioner in custody, the Court is inclined to allow the prayer of the Petitioner,” the Court said.
The Court ordered that, the Court in seisin over the matter will enlarge the petitioner on bail by imposing some stricter terms and conditions that:-
(i) The petitioner shall cooperate with the investigation as and when required by the Investigating Officer;
(ii) He shall not indulge himself in any criminal activities in future;
(iii) He shall not mis-utilise the liberty granted to him and;
(iv) He shall remain present before the trial court on each date of hearing of the case till its conclusion.
Violation of any of the aforesaid conditions shall entail automatic cancellation of the bail, the Court said.