Abhijit Iyer-Mitra, a Delhi-based defense analyst, who has been taken into judicial custody over his alleged anti-Odisha remarks, was admitted to Capital Hospital due to ill health.
According to reports, Abhijit has been suffering from stomach pain and has been admitted to the surgery ward. He was taken for a medical checkup on Friday after having complained of severe mental trauma and stress. He later returned to the jail but his condition worsened further and authorities had to shift him to the hospital. It was also reported that he has lost about 10 kg weight in the last one month.
As his condition worsens and he suffers in the hospital, one must keep in mind that the CJI had earlier told him that the safest place for him would be the prison. As it turns out, that was not the case.
Odisha police is trying to give his arrest a communal colour. It stated that Abhijit Iyer-Mitra was arrested for allegedly making derogatory statements against Hinduism, Konark temple and Lord Jagannath. But the truth appears to be something else. According to several sources, the Odisha police wanted Abhijit to falsely implicate former MP Jay Panda for flying his chopper in an illegal zone. Jay Panda and Naveen Patnaik have been at loggerheads over the last few months. Many believe that Odisha Police hounded Abhijit because he refused to falsely implicate Panda.
In a tweet, Sunil Jain managing editor of The Financial Express said, “@Naveen_Odisha wanted to fix @PandaJay but couldn’t, so @Iyervval is collateral damage. 5+ weeks in jail for stupid comments! What kind of dictatorship is this and why aren’t BJP leaders @dpradhanbjp taking this up? BTW @narendramodi Iyer-Mitra defended u big time on Rafale”.
.@Naveen_Odisha wanted to fix @PandaJay but couldn't, so @Iyervval is collateral damage. 5+ weeks in jail for stupid comments! What kind of dictatorship is this and why aren't BJP leaders @dpradhanbjp taking this up? BTW @narendramodi Iyer-Mitra defended u big time on Rafale https://t.co/w4hM8htg2x
— Sunil Jain (@thesuniljain) December 3, 2018
Two FIRs were lodged against Abhijit in Puri and Khurda districts under different IPC sections. Earlier, he was arrested by the Odisha police on September 20th in Delhi. Bail was granted to him on October 5 by a trial court subsequently, after he promised to cooperate in the investigation. On October 4th, he tried for the further extension of his bail in the Supreme Court but the plea was dismissed.
Meanwhile, Abhijit got support from some of his friends in the media including Aarti Tikoo Singh and Anand Ranganathan, Consulting Editor & Columnist at Swarajya. Anand made an appeal to former Cabinet minister and Rajya Sabha MP Subramanian Swamy for intervening into the matter. In a tweet, he said, “Dr @Swamy39. I am probably a hypocrite here because even though I always stood for anyone who suffered 295A, I never called for a direct intervention. But now I do – yours – for Abhijit. Why has he been taken for a surgery? You know people there. Please intervene. Help Abhijit”.
https://twitter.com/ARanganathan72/status/1069138280783011841
Dr. Swamy replied to the tweet saying, “Watch the developments of this week.”
Watch the developments of this week. https://t.co/3uGtJKaj8O
— Subramanian Swamy (@Swamy39) December 2, 2018
Abhijit Iyer has been in jail for making a joke on Twitter. According to some reports, he was hospitalized due to mental trauma, but questions about he being moved to the surgery ward have also been raised. We should remember the fact that he has been instrumental in exposing that there was no scam in the Rafale deal.
