BENGALURU: The Karnataka High Court directed the state police to conduct and conclude the investigation as expeditiously as possible against the then Mulbagal MLA G Manjunatha, now representing Kolar from Congress, since the crime related to a false caste certificate allegedly obtained by him in 2012 is six years old.
Justice M Nagaprasanna passed the order while rejecting the petition filed by Manjunatha against the registration of the crime under the provisions of IPC and the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 and the proceedings pending before the trial court in Kolar.
The judge noted that the crime was not even investigated as the petition was before the Supreme Court. Six years have passed and the apex court has concluded the proceedings and even the high court, while disposing of the petition, clearly indicated that it amounts to playing fraud on the Constitution.
Also, it was a clear case that the petitioner contested the election on a caste certificate which was on the face of it false and he also became a lawmaker by stealing away a constituency that was meant to a person genuinely belonging to the Scheduled Caste.
The finding is undoubtedly in continuation of what was observed by the coordinate Bench which has become a subject matter of the impugned crime. “Therefore, I do not find any warrant to interfere with the impugned crime,” the judge said.
Manjunatha, hailing from Maraheru Kothur village in Kolar district, claimed to be belonging to ‘Budaga Jangama’, a Scheduled Caste. He claimed that the customs and religious practices that he follows and professes are those of the Budaga Jangama caste and his parents and his forefathers also belonged to the Budaga Jangama caste.
Owing to their illiteracy and ignorance, the school authorities had indicated the caste of the petitioner as belonging to ‘Byragi’, looking at the attire of his parents. After obtaining a caste certificate as Budaga Jangama in 2012, he contested from the Mulbagal constituency and won.
After the election, a rival candidate filed a petition before the high court in 2013 seeking action to be initiated against Manjunatha for misusing his caste identity. An election petition was also filed against Manjunatha and in 2018, the high court declared that he belonged to the Byragi caste and not Budaga Jangama. Manjunatha moved the apex court against the order. After the District Caste Verification Committee gave a report that he belongs to Byragi, the Supreme Court gave him the liberty to challenge the findings before the high court and accordingly he filed the latest petition.