New Delhi: The Supreme Court issued a notice to the Odisha government and asked for details of what is being done to resolve the hostage crisis involving BJD MLA Jhina Hikaka. The court was hearing a petition filed by a retired Army officer to restrain the release of jailed Naxals, arguing that this would affect the morale of the forces.
Major General (Retd) Gangurdep Bakshi had pleaded with the apex court on Wednesday that the state government should be restrained from releasing the Naxals as they were captured by security forces, which had to put their lives on stake to nab them.
Bakshi, a counter-terrorism operations expert, submitted that his petition be given urgent hearing as the deadline set by the Naxals came to an end on Wednesday at 5 pm.
Agreeing to hear his plea, a bench of justices TS Thakur and Gyan Sudha Misra, however, pulled up Bakshi for moving the court so late.
"You can't come at the eleventh hour and plead for urgent hearing," the bench said.
Former Major General Bakshi further pleaded that the guidelines framed by the apex court during the crisis arising out of abduction of mega star Rajkumar should be followed and the Orissa government should not allowed to relent for the sake of one person.
In the beginning, the bench had expressed apprehension in hearing the case, saying "its intervention might aggravate the problem." It eventually agreed to hear it.
Hikaka was abducted in Koraput district on March 24. The abductors have agreed to free him if the government frees 29 jailed Naxals. The government had earlier freed seven Naxals to secure the freedom of two Italian tourists in Kandhamal.
(With additional information from PTI)
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