Bhubaneswar: The Odisha Assembly on Saturday passed a motion to forgive defence analyst Abhijit Iyer-Mitra for his ‘derogatory remarks’ on the Sun Temple, Lord Jagannath, Odisha, the MLAs, Chief Minister and the journalists of the state following the recommendation of the House Committee.
Earlier on the day, the House Committee, headed by Leader of the Opposition Narasingha Mishra, tabled its report before the House recommending to accept the apology of Abhijit and drop the matter.
“The House Committee in its report had recommended granting pardon to Abhijit as he has tendered an unconditional apology to the House Committee for his derogatory remarks. The report was placed before the State Assembly today and after a motion, the Assembly unanimously decided to grant pardon to him,” Mishra said.
#WATCH | House Committee chairman and LoP #NarasinghaMishra says the panel recommends to the House to direct the State Govt to provide materials to #AbhijitIyreMitra to educate him about art, culture, history and people of #Odisha #AbhijitIyerRow pic.twitter.com/ndXDWkgAAu
— Kalinga TV (@Kalingatv) November 17, 2018
With this move, Abhijit will be released from the Jharpada jail where he was lodged since the day of his arrest by the city based the Saheed Nagar police on October 23, just after his first appearance before the House Committee.
On October 4, the Supreme Court refused to grant bail to the Delhi based journalist saying “If your life is in danger, then what better place to stay than the jail, you will be secure.”
Abhijit was arrested in the national capital on September 20 but was granted bail by a Delhi court. He was asked to furnish a surety of Rs 1 lakh and told to join the probe in Bhubaneswar by September 28.
On September 16, Abhijit had posted a video on Twitter making derogatory remarks on the Sun Temple in Konark while being present at the spot.
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Ms Kalinga