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The case against the two accused was registered after the headmaster of the Government Girls High School in the town had lodged a complaint to the police on March 16, 2022
The Karnataka High Court has quashed a criminal case against two persons for painting graffiti on the walls of a school at Hospete during the Hijab row, upon noting that Vijayanagar district is not notified under the Karnataka Open Places (Prevention of Disfigurement) Act for initiating the proceedings under it.
A single judge bench of Justice M Nagaprasanna allowed a petition filed by Muzammil, 23, and Mohammad Jamaul, 25, from Hosapete in Vijayanagara district against the FIR, and the charge sheet.
Both the petitioners were sought to be prosecuted under the Act after the headmaster of the Government Girls High School in the town had lodged complaint to the police on March 16, 2022.
The headmaster had found the graffiti, 'Hijab is our dignity', written on the wall of the school in black paint.
The Hosapete town police had investigated the matter.
After a case was registered against the two accused, a charge sheet had been filed in the court against them.
In his submission, the counsel for the petitioners said that Vijayanagara district is not notified under the Karnataka Open Places (Prevention of Disfigurement) Act, 1981.
The government, though sought to refute the submissions, it admitted the fact that no notification had been issued, as was necessary under the Act, to bring in Hosapete Town under the ambit of the Act.
“For an incident to become an offence under Section 3 of the Act, the rigor of Section 1 of the Act will have to be noticed. Section 1 of the Act directs that to bring a place/local area within the ambit of the Act, a notification from the hands of the state government is imperative. It is an admitted fact that Hosapete Town is not the one that is notified to be coming within the Act, for the respondents to allege that the petitioners have incurred themselves the wrath of Section 3 of the Act,” the High Court said.
"In light of the fact that there is no notification issued by the State bringing in Hosapete Town under the Act, further proceedings if permitted to continue would become an abuse of the process of the law and result in miscarriage of justice," the bench added.
Case Title: Muzammil and another v. State of Karnataka
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