ORISSA H.C GRANTS BAIL TO CMAS LEADER NACHIKA LINGA AFTER SIX YEARS BY THE ORDER FROM S.C.
Nishapati Nayak,Odishabarta
KORAPUT:The Orissa High Court on Wednesday granted conditional bail to Chasi Mulia Adivasi Sangha (CMAS) leader Nachika Linga in the Narayanpatna police station attack case of 2009.
A single-judge bench of Justice A K Mishra allowed Nachika to go on bail on furnishing bail bond to be fixed by Assistant Sessions judge court of Koraput subject to other conditions as deemed just and proper by the trial court.
The High Court bail order came following a recent direction from the Supreme Court.
Nachika is in jail for over six-years now.”Booked in about 45 criminal cases, the leader representing peasants, bonded labourers and tribal people of Koraput district, had earlier been granted bail in the remaining 44 cases”, his counsel Prashant Kumar Jena said and hoped that Nachika Linga may walk free sooner than later.
CMAS activists had attacked Narayanapatna police station in Koraput district in November 2009 to protest the massive deployment of security forces in the area.
Nachika had earlier moved the Supreme Court in a special leave petition (SLP) following rejection of his bail application by Orissa High Court in January last year. The Apex court in March this year had given only six-week time to the trial court to examine all witnesses in the case.
The trial court, however, had failed to examine the remaining four witnesses in this case within the stipulated time fixed by the Supreme Court as courts in Odisha could not function properly in March-April this year due to the lockdown and shutdown imposed for Corona pandemic.
The trial court had also rejected his bail on April 15 saying the application was “premature” following which he had again moved the Apex Court alleging that the March order of the Apex court was not being complied with.
The Supreme Court on October 26 requested the Orissa High Court to dispose of the case within two weeks stating that the case relates to bail and personal liberty of the petitioner.
With following the typical tribal ritual on the bank of a river, Bhaliaputa villagers took out a procession to welcome their leader Nachika.lessings from the people of this region including my mother, I have returned home. I will continue to serve tribal people as well as work for the development of the region with their active support,” said the CMAS chief.
The CMAS is an active outfit of CPI (Maoists) in Narayanpatna and Bandhugaon blocks in Koraput district.
