CUTTACK: A person cannot be kept in confinement for an indefinite period on the assurance that one day the trial would be concluded, the Orissa High Court has ruled while granting bail to Maoist leader Sabyasachi Panda in one of the several cases pending against him.
The case was registered against him at Tarasingi police station in Ganjam district in 2008. The 56-year-old Maoist leader had sought bail in the case registered against him on charges of attacking with deadly weapons along with co-accused persons and setting fire to an office and furniture by hurling bombs and exchange of fire.
A trial court had convicted Panda for waging war against the nation and sentenced him to imprisonment for life on May 18, 2019. He had filed a criminal appeal against the trial court judgement on July 16, 2019. It is still pending in the high court.
While granting bail to Panda in the Tarasingi case on Tuesday, Justice Satapathy said, “No doubt, the allegation against the petitioner (Panda) is grave and serious, but the prosecution is unable to produce any convincing evidence till today to justify the further detention of the petitioner in custody.”
Only 16 of the 54 charge-sheeted witnesses have been examined till today and the trial is yet to be concluded. Out of 16 witnesses examined so far, none has supported the prosecution case, Justice Satapathy observed.
“In the aforesaid facts and circumstance and after having considered the rival submissions and trial having not concluded even after more than 10 years custody of the petitioner, this court without expressing any view on merits admits the petitioner to bail,” Justice Satapathy said and granted bail on furnishing bail bonds of Rs 50,000 with two solvent sureties each for the like amount to the satisfaction of the trial court of the case on such terms and conditions as it deems fit and proper.
Panda was arrested first from a house in Berhampur by state police on July 18, 2014 and has since been in jail. Several Maoist-related cases across many districts are pending against him.