BENGALURU: The Karnataka High Court imposed a cost of Rs 10,000 each on two police officers for invoking a provision struck down by the Supreme Court, to harass a techie over her alleged Facebook post against then Home Minister MB Patil.
Quashing the First Information Report (FIR) registered against Sharada DR, a resident of KR Puram, Justice P S Dinesh Kumar directed M Somanna, assistant sub-inspector attached to Sriramapura police station, and Ravi Patil, an inspector now attached to Central Crime Branch, to pay the cost to the court Registrar, in an order dated January 2, 2020.
Based on a complaint filed by one J Saravana on April 24, 2019, against alleged defamatory remarks Sharada posted over a fake letter reportedly written to Congress interim chief Sonia Gandhi by then home minister MB Patil over the Lingayat issue, police officers registered an FIR at Sriramapura police station.
The FIR was registered for an offence punishable under Section 66(a) of the IT Act, 2008, which has been struck down by the apex court, yet the officers had also taken up investigation.
During the hearing, Advocate M Aruna Shyam, on behalf of Sharada, argued that the FIR was registered under a provision struck down by the SC. The court directed the police officers, who registered the complaint and took up investigation, to file their affidavits.
In his affidavit, Ravi Patil, who was then inspector at Srimrapura police station, tendered an unconditional apology, stating that he had inadvertently continued with the investigation. A similar affidavit was filed by Somanna, saying that he had inadvertently registered an FIR and he also tendered an apology. The judge said that this was a case where police initiated criminal proceedings invoking a provision of law which was not in the statute book. It is relevant to note that Somanna treated the complaint as non-cognizable and registered the case on April 17, 2019, and also registered the FIR on April 24, 2019.