Mitra was arrested on September 20 but was granted bail by a Delhi court. He was asked to furnish a surety of Rs 1 lakh and told to join the probe in Bhub-aneswar by September 28.
The Supreme Court on Thursday refused to grant bail to Delhi-based defence analyst Abhijit Iyer-Mitra who found himself in a soup over his allegedly objectionable remarks about Odisha’s Konark Sun Temple.
Rejecting his plea, a bench headed by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi said it had seen his comments and added that they “incite religious feelings”. “How are you entitled to bail?” the bench said.
Mitra’s counsel told the bench, which also comprised Justices S K Kaul and K M Joseph, that his client’s life will be in danger if he goes back to Odisha to face the probe as even some legislators were against him.
The CJI replied, “If your life is in danger, then what better place to stay than the jail, you will be secure.”
Some tweets and videos shot by Mitra, in which he comments on the architecture of the temple, had triggered an outrage in some sections. He had later termed his comments a joke.
Odisha police had earlier told the court that Mitra “gave unpalatable and irresponsible remarks on Konark Sun Temple by uploading his views on social media with an intention to outrage and to wound religious feelings”.
Mitra was arrested on September 20 but was granted bail by a Delhi court. He was asked to furnish a surety of Rs 1 lakh and told to join the probe in Bhub-aneswar by September 28.