A view of the High Court of Karnataka building.
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Protection of the integrity of the nation, both locally and globally, is the duty of every citizen of the nation, more so, of the representatives of those citizens, the High Court of Karnataka has said.
The court made the observation while quashing a first information report (FIR) registered by the Bengaluru city police against Basanagouda R. Patil Yatnal, BJP MLA, for his remarks criticising Rahul Gandhi’s public speech made in the U.S. for “projecting India in bad light” by stating that “India is not a fair place” now.
Justice M. Nagaprasanna passed the order while allowing the petition by Mr. Yatnal, who had questioned the FIR registered based on a complaint lodged by Manohar S., secretary of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC).
Section 192 (wantonly giving provocation with intent to cause riot), Section 196 (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion… etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony), and Section 353(2) (circulation of false news or rumour resulting in feeling of enmity, hatred between religions, etc.,) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita were invoked against Mr. Yatnal.
No ingredient for offences
However, the court said that in what is spoken by Mr. Yatnal, there is no provocation for any rioting “even in the remotest sense”.
“There are no two groups involved in the case at hand. Again, these are personal to a person and there can be no question of the words leading to disharmony,” observed Mr. Justice Nagaprasanna.
On invoking Section 323(2), the court said, “There is no question of different religions being involved in the statement made by the petitioner. As contended by the learned counsel appearing for the petitioner, he has commented on the orientation and the roots of Sri Rahul Gandhi or his mother, which is a matter of record and is in public domain”.
‘Reckless registration’
“It is a reckless registration of crime by the jurisdictional police, without even looking into what are the contents and what are the offences,” the High Court said while pointing out that such criminal proceedings cannot be sustained in terms of the apex court’s guidelines as they amount to abuse of process of law.
Published – December 14, 2024 08:44 pm IST