CUTTACK: The Odisha High Court on Wednesday granted bail to four persons on a condition that they must plant 50 to 100 saplings and maintain them for two years.
The single judge bench of Justice SK Panigrahi passed the orders on bail petitions filed by Soumya Rajan Palai accused of attempt to murder, Purnanda Nayak accused of rape, cheating and extortion, Budhadev Das accused in case of his wife’s murder and Nirmal Sana accused in an NDPS case.
The criminal cases against them are pending in courts at Tangi, Bhubaneswar, Keonjhar and Malkangiri respectively. Justice Panigrahi directed these courts to release them on bail on stringent terms and conditions.
“The petitioner shall plant saplings (50 in two cases and 100 in the other two) of local varieties like mango, neem, tamarind, etc. around his village over government land/community land/private land, if it is in the possession of the petitioners or their family members,” said Justice Panigrahi in identical orders on the four petitions.
“Violation of the above condition shall entail cancellation of the bail. The inspector-in-charge of the police station concerned in coordination with the local forest officer shall monitor whether the petitioner has planted the saplings or not,” Justice Panigrahi also specified in the orders.
Justice Panigrahi further directed the petitioners “to file before the local police station affidavits after plantation of the saplings assuring that they will maintain those plants for two years”.
The cases were registered at Tangi police station (2024), Mahila police station,Bhubaneswar (2023), Turumunga police station (2024) and Malkangiri police station (2020).