Three persons, lodged in jails and facing prosecution in separate criminal cases including rape and drug peddling, were asked by the Orissa High Court to plant 50 trees in their respective native villages while granting them conditional bail.

The single bench judge of High Court Justice Dr S K Panigrahi delivering the order yesterday directed the Investigating officers to ensure that the plantation work is done by the bailed out accused persons.

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“Without going into the merits of the case and considering the submissions made by the counsels for the parties and having scrutinised the case record, this Court is of the view that the petitioners (arrested persons) deserve to be released on bail. Accordingly, it is directed that the Petitioner be released on bail on some stringent terms and conditions.

The petitioners (the accused persons) shall plant 50 saplings of local variety like mango, neem, tamarind etc around his village under the Government land/community land/private land, if it is in the possession of the petitioners”, Justice Panigrahi stated in the order.

The Inspector-In-Charge of the Police Station concerned will see whether the petitioner has planted the saplings or not.

The District Nursery/Divisional Forest Officer shall extend the helping hand by supplying the saplings to the petitioner and the Revenue Authority shall assist the Petitioner in identifying the location for plantation of the saplings, the order said.

The petitioners shall file an affidavit after plantation of the saplings before the local Police Station assuring that they will maintain those plants for two years. The said affidavits shall also be produced before the Court at the time of trial, Justice Panigrahi concluded.