No interim relief was granted to the beleaguered and incommunicado former law Minister Raghunath Mohanty on Tuesday as a single-judge Bench of the Odisha High Court took up a writ petition filed by Mohanty seeking to quash the FIR registered against him by the Baleswar police.
It could not be confirmed till the filing of this report whether the HC admitted the miscellaneous petition filed by Mohanty on Monday seeking an interim protection that no coercive action should be taken by the investigating police against him until the petition is disposed of.
Mohanty on Tuesday approached the court through a writ petition seeking to quash the criminal proceedings initiated on the basis of an FIR registered against him and four of his family members at the Baleswar Town police station. Mohanty, his wife, son and two other family members are booked on charges of dowry torture brought in by Mohanty’s daughter-in-law Barsasoni Choudhury.
“The miscellaneous case came up before Justice Raghuvir Dash on Tuesday and we have put forth our arguments stating that no case is made out against the former Minister and his family members on the basis of the FIR filed,” said Mohanty’s counsel Milan Kanungo. He further informed that no order had been passed by the court till evening on the admissibility of the case.
On the other hand, appearing for Mohanty’s daughter-in-law, advocate Smrutiranjan Mohapatra argued that the court should not grant any interim protection to the accused as this is a fit case for trial on the basis of prima facie evidence collected till date by the prosecution.
The State Human Rights Protection Cell (HRPC) is investigating into the allegation and has already arrested the Barsasoni’s husband Raja Shree Mohanty, who has been remanded to judicial custody for 15 days after his bail application was rejected by a Balwswar lower court.
Barsasoni, a 23-year-old engineering graduate, has levelled dowry-torture allegation against her five in-laws, including Raghunath Mohanty.