Utkal Bharat president and former MP MA Kharabela Swain has resented the way bail was granted to former Advocate General Asok Mohanty, who was arrested by the CBI recently for an allegedly fraudulent plot and house deal with chit fund firm AT Group chairman Pradeep Sethy.
Swain has also criticised the behaviour of the Odisha High Court Bar Association that helped Mohanty get the bail. Notably, the lawyers’ body had resorted to a stop-work stir and the High Court and district courts had stopped working for two days protesting the arrest of Mohanty.
In a memorandum to Chief Justice of India Hl Dattu and Odisha High Court Chief Justice Amitava Roy, Swain said judiciary must all the time show neutrality and high integrity and should not grab undeserving privileges because nobody can challenge it. Citing the soft corner of the legal fraternity for Mohanty because he belongs to the fraternity, he pointed out that when many under-trial prisoners are languishing in jail either because they could not get bail or were unable to deposit sureties and there are thousands who are yet to be convicted but have suffered jail terms more than their sentence could be.
“How many times the lawyers or the High Court have shown this type of concern for those hapless people languishing in jail what they have shown for an accused involved in the case of loot of public moneyIJ Does their activity show that they are fair, neutral or law-abidingIJ” asked Swain.