Scribe arrested for ‘derogatory remarks’ on Sun Temple gets bail

NEW DELHI: Odisha-based journalist Abhijit Iyer Mitra, who was arrested here on Thursday by the state police for allegedly making derogatory remarks on the Sun Temple in Konark, was granted bail by a Delhi court which also directed him to cooperate with the investigations.
Chief metropolitan magistrate Manish Khurana refused to give transit custody of Mitra to Odisha police.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.
Mitra’s arrest came on a day when Odisha Assembly adopted a privilege motion against him for the alleged derogatory remarks.
In its remand plea, Odisha police told court that Mitra “gave unpalatable and irresponsible remarks on Konark Sun Temple by uploading view on social media with an intention to outrage and to wound religious feeling which may create communal fraction”.