Nayagarh court drops sedition charges against Sabyasachi Panda in two cases.

The Hindu: New Delhi : Wednesday, February 3, 2016. 

A local court in Nayagarh on Tuesday dropped sedition charges slapped against Maoist leader Sabyasachi Panda in two cases.

“These two cases pertain to attack on police establishment in Nayagarh headquarter town in 2008. The police had filed cases under section of 121, 121A, 122 and 120 (B) of IPC and other provisions under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, 1967. However, there was no necessary sanction for sedition charge,” said Dipak Patnaik, counsel for the Maoist leader.

The court, however, directed to retain charges under Section 302 of IPC and 25 of the Arms Act in those two cases, said Mr. Patnaik. As of now, charges have been dropped in nine cases against Panda.

Mr. Patnaik alleged the Odisha Police were not forthcoming in providing details of total number of cases pending against Panda.

“At the time of his arrest in 2014, we were told that there were 62 cases pending against my client. However, police sources said number of cases could be more than 100. We had moved the Odisha High Court seeking a direction for the State Police to provide details of all cases. The High Court directed us to seek the information exercising the RTI Act,” the lawyer said.

He said the State Police did not respect the RTI query. “During last one-and-a-half year, Panda has been on hunger strike on eight occasions. We were not being provided information as to how many cases were pending against him. The police clearly want to keep him for a longer period by slapping false cases,” Mr. Pantaik said. “The cases pertain to attack on police establishment in headquarter town in 2008”.