NEW DELHI: In a huge relief to Odisha’s Leader of Opposition (LoP) and BJP MLA and leader, Jaynarayan Mishra in a case of allegedly assaulting a woman police officer after accusing her of taking a bribe, the Supreme Court recently granted him interim protection from arrest in the case.
A two-judge bench of the Apex Court, led by Justice Hrishikesh Roy and also comprising Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra, passed the order of granting interim relief to Mishra and issued notice to the Odisha government and sought its response within four weeks.
As per the victim and also the complainant in the case, Odisha’s Dhanupali Police Station Inspector in-charge, Anita Pradhan, alleged that the accused, Mishra had assaulted a woman police officer, after accusing her of taking bribes, during a BJP protest in Sambalpur last year on February 15.
The BJP MLA from Sambalpur, Mishra, however, denied the charge and claimed that rather, Pradhan had pushed him.
Initially, the Odisha High Court had rejected the petition of Mishra, seeking interim relief of anticipatory bail in the case, promoting him to knock on the doors of the Supreme Court for relief.
For Mishra, senior lawyer, Maninder Singh, told the Apex Court that his client is an MLA and the LOP in the Assembly, and he was not even summoned in the case. The state HC should have considered this case and granted relief to him.
Along with Singh, Sarthak Nayak also appeared for Mishra in the case before the Apex Court.