"General, Omnibus Allegations": Orissa High Court Grants Bail To BJP MLA Prashant Jagdev In EVM Vandalisation Case

The Orissa High Court on Wednesday granted bail to Prashant Jagdev, the newly elected Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA from Khurda constituency, who was arrested last month for allegedly vandalising an Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) and misbehaving with polling officials.

While extending relief to the legislator, the Vacation Bench of Justice Sashikanta Mishra observed, "After going through the F.I.R., this Court finds that the allegations are more or less omnibus in nature and in general terms. What exactly the petitioner did has not been specified."

The Presiding Officer of the polling booth of Bolagad block's Kuanripatna, where Jagdev is registered as a voter, lodged a complaint alleging that the MLA attempted to vandalise the EVM and also, assaulted the polling officials as well as a lady voter as he had to stand in the queue for a long time to cast his vote.

Following the complaint, an FIR was registered under various provisions of IPC as well as Representation of People Act and he was arrested.

He was earlier denied bail by the lower Court but was subsequently released on 3 days interim bail for taking part in the oath taking ceremony.

Today, his bail application was heard by the Vacation Bench of the High Court. Senior Lawyer Pitambar Aacharya, who appeared for the MLA, vehemently argued that the allegations are 'politically motivated' and are untrue.

After perusing the FIR and the case diary, the Court came to the conclusion that no specific allegation has been made against Jagdev and it is merely alleged that he vandalised the EVM and 'misbehaved' with certain people present in the booth.

Justice Mishra stressed that the term 'misbehaviour' is general in nature and has a very wide connotation. Thus, in the absence of specific facts, the MLA cannot be allowed to stay behind the bars on the basis of omnibus allegations.

"Moreover, the identity of the female voter who was allegedly pushed by the petitioner has also not been stated," it added.

Thus, taking into consideration the above facts, the Court deemed it proper to grant bail to the petitioner. Further, it directed the trial Court to put appropriate conditions for grant of the bail.

Notably, this is not the first time that Jagdev has been in legal trouble. In 2022, he was arrested for allegedly driving his four-wheeler over a crowd during the panchayat elections.

Case Title: Prasanta Kumar Jagadev v. State of Odisha

Case No: BLAPL No. 5847 of 2024

Date of Order: June 12, 2014

Counsel for the Petitioner: Mr. Pitambar Acharya, Sr. Advocate

Counsel for the State: Mr. Priyabrata Tripathy, Addl. Standing Counsel

Click Here To Read/Download Order