Karnataka High Court stays FIR against Gopalakrishnan, IISc director, 14 others

The court allowed liberty to the complainant and the city police to seek vacation or modification of this order.
Karnataka High Court.
Karnataka High Court.(File Photo | EPS)
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BENGALURU: The Karnataka High Court has stayed the First Information Report (FIR) and all further proceedings initiated against 16 accused, including Infosys co-founder Senapathy Kris Gopalakrishnan and Indian Institute of Science (IISc) director Prof Govindan Rangarajan, under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

Justice S R Krishna Kumar passed the interim order on Wednesday after hearing the petition filed by all the accused questioning the legality of the FIR and the trial court order to register the crime against them based on the complaint filed by Dr D Sanna Durgappa, former professor of the Centre for Sustainable Technologies, IISc.

Issuing emergent notice to Durgappa and notice to the city police, the court stayed all further proceedings or investigation into the crime and all further proceedings in the private complaint pending before the LXX Additional City Civil and Sessions Court, Bengaluru, till the next date of hearing.

The court allowed liberty to the complainant and the city police to seek vacation or modification of this order.

The Sadashivanagar police had registered the FIR against Prof Rangarajan, Director, IISc; Capt Sridhar Warrier (retd), Kris Gopalakrishnan, Chairman, Governing Council, IISc; Prof Anil Kumar P, Prof Dipshikha Chakravarty, Prof Namratha Gundaih, Dr Nirmala, Prof Sandhya S Visweswariah (retd), Prof K V S Hari, Prof S Dasappa, Dr P Balachandra, Prof Balaram P, Prof Anjali A Karande (retd), Prof Chattopadhyay K (retd), Pradeep S Sawkar and Abhilash Raju.

It was also stated in the petition that no allegation has been made against Kris Gopalakrishnan as he had no role to play either in the disciplinary action or in the subsequent events relating to this case, but was made an accused merely because he is currently the chair of the Governing Council of IISc.

In a statement, Kris Gopalakrishnan said, “I have always believed in treating everyone with respect, regardless of their background. I am deeply saddened that a law meant to protect marginalised communities has been misused. I have been associated with IISc as chairman of the Council since 2022, while the alleged incidents date back to 2014.”

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