SC wants to know: What’s happening in Orissa?

Adivasi lawmaker Hikaka was abducted in Koraput on March 24,ten days after Italian tour guide Paolo Bosusco was kidnapped by another Maoist group in Kandhamal. Claudio Colangelo,a second Italian kidnapped along with Bosusco,was released 11 days later; Bosusco himself walked free on April 12,two days after a court acquitted Maoist leader Sabyasachi Panda’s wife Subhashree.

The court today issued notice to both the Naveen Patnaik government and the Union of India in the matter.

“Let’s see what is happening there. Issue notice,” the bench observed,re-scheduling the case for hearing after two weeks.

The PIL argues that the capitulation of the state in releasing hardcore Maoists sends a wrong message to law enforcement officers who often face bullets to capture the extremists. “The decision of the Government of Odisha subverts the rule of law which is a basic structure of our constitution,” petition contended.

The court,which had specifically sought the presence of Solicitor General Rohinton Nariman,asked the law officer his opinion. “What do you think,Mr Nariman?” Justice Thakur asked.

“On facts,I have no idea,” Nariman replied,though he said he had looked up the judgments on the case.

The SG said that a prayer in the petition to direct the home ministry “to frame proper law and guidelines to tackle the problem of the Maoist insurgency” was “not maintainable”.

On the petitioner’s allegation that the Orissa government had evolved a “noble method” of releasing Maoists by not opposing their applications for bail,the court asked advocate Brijesh Kalappa why he should approach the Supreme Court when each of the suspect bail orders could be challenged in local courts.

“It is not as if a barter is on between the government and the rebels… These bail orders are made by court of law and are independent. You can challenge them in the appropriate courts,” Justice Thakur said.