Cuttack, April 8: The Orissa High Court on Monday denied Maoist leader Sabyasachi Panda’s writ for allowing habeas corpus.
Hearing a writ petition filed by Panda, a division bench of the Orissa High Court comprising Justice Arindam Sinha and Justice Mruganka Sekhar Sahoo ordered that an UTP & convict is not liable to claim remedy under the writ of habeas corpus, seeking relief from lawful imprisonment or judicial custody, on the ground of violation of fundamental right to life and personal liberty.
It cannot be said that someone if lodged in jail as a convict or an UTP, his fundamental right to life and liberty has been infringed, to persuade us to exercise discretion in directing his production for purpose of release, the order read.
Panda who has been acquitted in 89 of those 131 criminal cases, had filed the writ petition seeking issuance of writ of habeas corpus for his release from jail custody, where he has been lodged in Odisha Jails for the last nine years as an UTP.
