BENGALURU: A strange case of a man printing his wedding card with the message, “The gift that you would give me in the marriage is a vote for Narendra Modi”, and the election flying squad filing a criminal case against him for violating the poll rules during the 2024 parliamentary elections, came up before the Karnataka High Court.
Justice M Nagaprasanna passed the interim order of stay after hearing the petition filed by the man, Shivaprasad, and Balakrishna A, printer of the invitation card, from Dakshina Kannada district. The petition by the accused questioned the crime registered by the flying squad at the Uppinangady police station.
Issuing notices to the Uppinangady police and flying squad of the Sullia Assembly constituency, the court said the petitioners are alleged of a strange offence.
The petition stated that Shivaprasad printed the invitation card of his wedding with the postscript that was said to be an offence under Section 127A (restriction on the printing of pamphlets, posters, etc.) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951.
The petitioner contended that the magistrate permitted the flying squad to file the complaint without following the due procedure and application of mind.
The petitioner’s counsel argued that the documents appended to the petition demonstrated that the invitation was printed long before the elections were declared and it would not make an offence under Section 127A of the Act. Such Acts are required to be in operation only during the election and not prior, he argued.
The court said that there should be an interim stay of all further proceedings in the case till December 12, the next date of hearing.