CUTTACK: In yet another series of bail orders, the Orissa High Court’s single judge bench of Justice SK Panigrahi has granted conditional bail to eight accused persons, imposing unique community service requirements as part of their release terms.
Justice Panigrahi granted bail to these accused persons arrested in narcotics and criminal conspiracy cases - six on the condition to undertake cleaning hospital premises and the other two clean the premises of local police stations - for two months.
The cases pertain to offences under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023. The eight accused persons were arrested between January and August and had since been in jail.
In identical orders, Justice Panigrahi said, “Without delving into the intricacies of the case or the merits of the allegations, and in light of the facts and circumstances at hand, this court is of the view that the petitioner should be granted bail by the trial court over the matter in the case.”
In one case, in which the accused was arrested in Nilgiri area for alleged possession of 80 grams of brown sugar, he was directed to clean Bahanaga community health centre. Similarly, in another case, the accused arrested in Khurda Sadar area for alleged possession of 23.43 grams of brown sugar was directed to clean Khurda district hospital.
In a separate but related set of cases, four accused persons, who were arrested for allegedly conspiring to commit dacoity near the RMC market in Bhadrak were directed to clean the premises of the district headquarters hospital in Bhadrak.
All the six accused persons have been directed to clean the government health facilities thrice a week for two months, between 6 am and 8 am, in addition to regular police station attendance and other standard conditions.
In the case of the other two accused persons, one arrested on charges attempted murder was directed to clean the Govindpur police station and another arrested on charges of causing wrongful restraint and illegal possession of arms has been asked to clean the Bharatpur police station from 8 am to 10 am and from 6 am to 9 am respectively - for two months.
Justice Panigrahi warned that violation of any condition would lead to cancellation of bail.
