Biju Janata Dal MLA from Patnagarh, Saroj Kumar Meher, who was arrested for forcing a junior engineer from a tribal community to do sit-ups in public for the “poor quality” of road construction in Bolangir district, was granted bail on Saturday.
Bond, sureties
The court of the Additional Sessions Judge, Bhubaneswar, which granted bail to Mr. Meher, ordered that the MLA be released over furnishing a personal bond of ₹25,000 with two sureties of the same amount.
The court further directed the MLA to cooperate during the investigation in the case and not induce threat directly or indirectly to the victim, informants or any other prosecution witnesses.
Mr. Meher was in judicial custody since his arrest by Bolangir district police on June 24. He was initially lodged in a jail in Bolangir district and later shifted to the special jail in Bhubaneswar.
The incident took place on June 5. In a video clip that had gone viral on social media, Mr. Meher was seen forcing junior engineer Jayakanta Sabar to do sit-ups.
The police had registered a case against Mr. Meher under the IPC and the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act on the basis of a complaint filed by Mr. Sabar’s wife on June 6.
Expressed regret
Mr. Meher had expressed regret a day after the incident, saying he did it to “save the official” from being attacked by the villagers.
An association of the tribals in Bolangir had later threatened to picket the Assembly and demanded action against him.
