The Odisha Assembly has accepted the apology begged by defence analyst Abhijit Iyer-Mitra and dropped the charges of breach of privilege against him here on Saturday.
The Assembly dropped the charges against Mr. Iyer-Mitra passing a motion by voice vote accepting the recommendation of the Assembly House Committee which probed into the matter.
In its report, the committee recommended that “the House may be magnanimous to consider and accept the apology begged by Mr. Iyer-Mitra for the statement made by him before the media against the Members of the House and drop the matter”.
Educate about Odisha
The committee also “recommended to the House to direct the State government to provide materials to Mr. Iyer-Mitra to educate him about the art, culture, history and people of Odisha”.
After the report was tabled, Leader of Opposition Narasingha Mishra, who headed the committee, and Debi Prasad Mishra, BJD legislator and a member of the committee, briefly spoke about the recommendations after which the Assembly passed a motion accepting Mr. Iyer-Mitra’s apology.
The committee was formed after the Speaker allowed a privilege motion moved by Mr. Mishra over Mr. Iyer-Mitra’s remarks against the legislators in the wake of the controversy over his video post against the backdrop of the Konark temple.
The defence analyst is in judicial custody following his arrest in two cases filed against him – at the Sahid Nagar police station in Bhubaneswar and the Konark police station in Puri district – for his alleged derogatory and objectionable comments on art and culture of Odisha, Lord Jagannath and the Odia community.
Earlier, after Mr. Iyer-Mitra was denied bail in the lower court, his counsel Nikhil Mehra moved the Orissa High Court on Friday seeking bail in the Sahid Nagar case and the matter is pending hearing.
