HYDERABAD: Justice J Sreenivas Rao of the Telangana High Court on Monday issued notices to the state government and the de facto complainant in a criminal petition filed by Kavali Venkatesh, who is accused of morphing and circulating an allegedly obscene photograph of Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy on social media platforms.
The court permitted the petitioner’s counsel to serve personal notice on the de facto complainant, Goolla Narasimha, and adjourned the matter to February 11 for further hearing.
During the hearing, when the petitioner’s counsel asserted that Venkatesh was innocent and had no connection with the alleged offence, Justice Sreenivas Rao observed that the Supreme Court, while dealing with similar cases, had taken serious note of such acts. The judge remarked that victims have a fundamental right to oppose such actions and emphasised that India is a secular country.
The criminal petition seeks quashing of proceedings in FIR No 11 of 2026 dated January 11, 2026, registered at Maddur Police Station, Narayanpet district, under Sections 186(2), 353(1)(a), 352 of the BNS and Section 67 of the Information Technology Act, 2000 (as amended in 2008).
According to the prosecution, the petitioner, a businessman from Brahmana Veedhi, Kotakonda in Mahbubnagar district, allegedly edited the photograph of the chief minister in an obscene and humiliating manner and posted it in the “Telangana Public TV WhatsApp group”, besides circulating it on other social media platforms, thereby dishonouring the chief minister.
The case was registered on a complaint lodged by Goolla Narasimha, a politician from Mominapur village of Maddur mandal.
Counsel for the petitioner, Kalyan, argued that Venkatesh is a law-abiding citizen who has been falsely implicated and contended that the police failed to follow Section 35(3) of the BNSS (corresponding to Section 41-A Cr.PC) and the Supreme Court’s directions in Arnesh Kumar vs State of Bihar. He further alleged that police were threatening the petitioner by repeatedly visiting his house to arrest him.