Update: An Odisha High Court Wednesday granted bail to Abhijit Iyer Mitra, the defence analyst, who had been arrested on charges of offending the sentiments of the people of Odisha by sharing a satirical video about the Konark temple on his Twitter account.


Mitra's bail comes a day after Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik-led Odisha government decided not to accord sanction to prosecute the journalist in certain criminal cases and would also take steps to withdraw other criminal cases pending against him.


On September 16 this year, Mitra during a visit to the century-old Konark Temple posted a satirical video on Twitter allegedly insulting Odisha, its culture, tradition and state legislators. He later wrote an apology letter to the House Committee of Vidhan Sabha and the Speaker of the Odisha Assembly over his sarcastic remarks and other offenses he was accused of.