Defence Analyst Abhijit Iyer-Mitra Arrested Days After Konark Temple 'Joke', Granted Bail

New Delhi: Days after his comments on the Konark Temple led to an uproar in the Odisha assembly, defence analyst and journalist Abhijit Iyer-Mitra was arrested in Delhi on Thursday and later granted bail on a surety of Rs 1 lakh.

Iyer-Mitra’s lawyer had earlier said they had no idea why the action was initiated against the writer as they were not given a copy of the FIR. “He is being taken to Saket court for remand. We are going there to oppose it. We have not even been given a copy of the FIR, so we can't say what the offences are, who the complainant is or under what sections the case has been registered,” ANI quoted his legal counsel as saying.

Earlier on Thursday, a privilege motion was moved against the analyst in the Odisha assembly, demanding action against him for allegedly hurting religious sentiments after he tweeted a video commentary from the temple. The assembly Speaker also approved a proposal to form a house committee, led by Leader of Opposition Narasingha Mishra to probe the matter.

Stating that Iyer-Mitra had "ridiculed" the temple, BJD MLA Sanjay Dasburma had said: "It (the video) is an insult to the state and its existence. Action should be taken against the man."

On September 16, the analyst had posted a video from the temple on Twitter. As he pointed to the erotic sculptures in various stages of intimacy at the temple complex, he said: “Can this be a holy place? Not at all. This is a conspiracy against Hindus by Muslims who want to keep us down. Jai Sriram. In our new Ram temple, such obscene sculptures will not be there.” However, he clarified in another tweet that he was joking.

Twitter soon came to the writer’s defence and condemned the police action against him, saying authorities had failed to understand the satire in his comments.