Karnataka High Court Quashes Criminal Case Against CM Shivakumar Over Facebook Post
The Karnataka High Court on Friday allowed a petition filed by Chief Minister D K Shivakumar and quashed a criminal case registered against him over a Facebook post. The post was alleged to have targeted certain leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Justice M Nagaprasanna, who heard the petition, stated in his order: “Allowed and quashed.” The court did not elaborate on the reasoning in the brief order.
The case was originally registered by the Bengaluru police based on a complaint from Yogendra Hodaghatta, a former secretary of the BJP's legal cell. The complaint alleged that Shivakumar and the Congress party's social media cell head, B R Naidu, had manipulated and misrepresented the BJP's campaign materials in a Facebook post. The complaint was filed before the Bengaluru Special Court for People's Representatives, which ordered the police to register a First Information Report (FIR).
At the time of the alleged offence, Shivakumar was serving as the Deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka and also held the position of state Congress president. He is currently the Chief Minister.
The High Court's decision to quash the case means that the criminal proceedings against Shivakumar and Naidu have been dropped. The court's order provides legal relief to the Chief Minister, who had maintained that the case was politically motivated and without merit.
