SC gives bail to RTI activist who complained against 2 Orissa HC judges

The Supreme Court has granted bail to RTI activist Jayanta Kumar Das, who had in 2016 complained to then Chief Justice of India T S Thakur, accusing two sitting judges of the Orissa High Court of wrongdoings, leading to an in-house inquiry against them.

Das was in custody since August 8 for allegedly posting defamatory remarks against Lord Jagannath and Gajapati King Dibyasingha Deb on Facebook.

A bench of Justices M B Lokur and Deepak Gupta granted bail to Das on April 9 after no lawyer for the Odisha Police appeared before it despite being called twice.

"In our opinion, since there is no opposition to this petition by the State of Odisha, it would be appropriate if bail is granted to the petitioner subject to such reasonable conditions as may be imposed by the trial court," the bench said in the order uploaded today.

The top court, however, clarified that Das will participate in the investigation and will not cause any hindrance in it.

Appearing for Das, senior advocate Jayant Bhushan said he had been in custody since August 8, 2017 for an offence punishable under sections 292 and 295A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) of the IPC.

The bench disposed of the appeal against the Orissa High Court order rejecting his bail.

The three-member in-house inquiry committee instituted by then CJI T S Thakur in September 2016 was headed by Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana High Court S J Vazifdar.

The inquiry panel had earlier this year reportedly heard the versions of the two sitting judges and complainant Das from the Puri jail via video conference.

Das in his complaint had alleged that one of the judges had violated the code of conduct for judges by owning a hotel in Cuttack and constructing a five-storey building while he had sanction for three stories.

The other judge allegedly misused public funds for renovation of his official residence when he was an additional judge.