Mangalore: After 4 months in jail, Naveen Soorinje finally released
Pics: Dayanand Kukkaje
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangalore (VM)
Mangalore, Mar 23: After spending more than four months in the district jail in connection with last year's attack on a Padil home stay, TV journalist Naveen Soorinje was finally released here on Saturday March 23 at 5.30 pm.
Soorinje's release comes five days after the high court granted him bail on March 18.
He was welcomed by a swarm of media persons, members of various organizations including DYFI, PUCL and Komu Souharda Vedike, and individuals like Vittal Malekudiya, a student who was released last year after being arrested on suspicions of assisting Naxal activities, and Vijaykumar, one of the victims of the home stay attack.
Speaking to daijiworld, Soorinje's lawyer Saitsh Kumar Bantwal said that he has been released after his brother-in-law Jagannath Shetty gave a surety bond of Rs 5 lac as ordered by the high court. Soorinje will be required to appear in the court as when he is called, he added.
Muneer Katipalla of DYFI welcomed Soorinje's release and said, "We are happy that Soorinje fought against moral policing. We will continue our fight against moral policing in the future also."
Soorinje, one of the 44 accused in the home stay case, was arrested on November 7, 2012 in a flash operation by Kankanady police led by circle inspector Ravish Naik.
The government had dropped charges against him following a hunger strike by media persons in Bangalore. Courts at various levels had denied him bail.
He was finally granted bail by the high court after one of the victims, Vijaykumar, appeared as a witness and claimed that Soorinje had been falsely framed by the police to hide their own inefficiency, and also that Soorinje had even tried to save the boys and girls who were being attacked.