NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday refused to consider a plea filed by the Karnataka government against the High Court's order quashing a criminal case lodged against BJP MP Tejasvi Surya for allegedly spreading misinformation.
A two-judge bench of the top court, headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) B R Gavai and K Vinod Chandran, pronounced the order.
Surya had, on November 7, 2024, reportedly shared an article from Kannada news portals claiming that a farmer, Rudrappa Channappa Balikai, died by suicide after discovering his land had been taken over by the Waqf Board.
A single Judge bench of the Karnataka High Court, Justice M Nagaprasanna quashed the FIR against Surya and said in its order that, allowing the criminal proceedings would amount to abuse of the process of law when there is nothing to investigate.
Subsequently, an appeal was filed by the Karnataka government in the top court challenging the HC's order, but it was rejected by the SC on Monday.
The bench, while dismissing the Karnataka goverment's appeal, warned it: "What is this? Don't politicise the matter. Fight your battles before the electorate. Dismissed with costs."
The South Bengaluru MP had deleted the post after it was revealed by the police that the claims were unfounded. The police had registered a suo-motu case under Section 353(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (BNS) for spreading fake news.
The HC said, "the tweet is posted; tweet is clarified; and tweet is deleted. Therefore, it is ununderstandable as to how the ingredients of Section 353(2) of BNS are met in the case at hand."