Orissa HC Grants Conditional Bail To 29 Arrested Sambalpur Lawyers

Cuttack: Orissa High Court on Friday granted conditional bail to 29 arrested lawyers of Sambalpur in connection with the damage to a district judge’s chamber during a protest.

The accused lawyers had allegedly resorted to vandalism inside the chamber of a district judge.

The agitating lawyers were staging protests demanding the establishment of a permanent bench of the Orissa High Court in Sambalpur.

Chairman of the action committee of Sambalpur district bar association (SDBA), Pradeep Bohidar condemned the police action and said members of the bar were arrested without following the provisions of law.

The BCI had suspended the licence of 29 lawyers for a period of 18 months and all others till further orders and barred the members from entering the court premises.

The lawyers, who were arrested, were booked under Sections 147 (rioting), 341 (wrongful restraint), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 353 (criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty), 332 (voluntarily causing hurt to deter a public servant from his/her duty), 506 (criminal intimidation), 186 (obstructing a public servant in the discharge of his/her public function), 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant), 427 (mischief and thereby causing loss or damage to the amount of fifty rupees or upwards) and other provisions of law. A court rejected their bail and sent them in judicial custody.