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The court had earlier stayed all proceedings against Tejasvi Surya in a suo-motu FIR registered by Haveri police over his social media post on platform X
The Karnataka High Court on Thursday, December 12, 2024, quashed a criminal case registered against Member of Parliament (MP) from Bangalore South constituency, Tejasvi Surya, for allegedly spreading “fake news” regarding the suicide of a farmer in Haveri district.
A Single judge bench of Justice M. Nagaprasanna, while delivering the order, stated, “Allowed quashed.” During the hearing, the court orally remarked, “It is a very sorry (situation)...A Life was lost. A farmers son commits suicide for debts or whatever it is. All of you are playing politics with it.”
The case stemmed from a post on social media platform ‘X’ by Surya on November 7, where he shared a news article alleging that a farmer, Rudrappa Channappa Balikai, had died by suicide due to a Waqf Board-related land dispute.
The post stated : “A farmer in Haveri commits suicide after finding his land is taken over by Waqf!, In their haste to appease minorities, CM @ siddaramaiah and minister @ BZZameerAhmedK have unleashed catastrophic effects in Karnataka that are becoming impossible to contain with every passing day”
The post was later deleted after Haveri district police clarified the claims were unfounded. The police attributed the suicide, which occurred on January 6, 2022, to financial distress caused by crop loss and mounting debts. A suo-motu case, under Section 353(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (BNS), was registered by the police on November 7 against Surya for spreading fake news. On November 14, the High Court had stayed the investigation, citing the deletion of the tweet and the police’s clarification as key factors.
Senior Counsel Aruna Shyam along with Advocate Anirudh A. Kulkarni, representing the MP, argued that the tweet was based on news articles and lacked the ingredients to constitute an offence under Section 353(2) of the BNS, which penalizes statements promoting hatred or enmity. It was also emphasised that Surya deleted the tweet after police clarification and that the farmer’s father had publicly clarified the incident.
The court, following arguments from both parties, had reserved its judgment on December 5, stating that court is not a platform for politics.
Cause Title: L.S. Tejasvi Surya v. State of Karnataka [CRL.P No. 12267 of 2024]
Appearance: Senior Counsel Aruna Shyam with Advocates Anirudh A. Kulkarni, Akshay S. Vasist, Suyog Herele, and Aravind Suchindran for the petitioner.
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