Karnataka HC quashes FIR in opposition to BJP President JP Nadda, calls grievance obscure
The Karnataka High Court has quashed an FIR in opposition to BJP President JP Nadda filed in the course of the election marketing campaign within the state earlier this 12 months, calling the grievance obscure.
The single-judge bench of Justice M Nagaprasanna said that permitting additional investigation into the case will grow to be a basic case of the abuse of the authorized course of, and can expose how a reckless registration of crime was allowed.
“The complaint does not say that the petitioner had interfered with the free exercise of anyone’s electoral right. It also doesn’t say that the petitioner is guilty of personation as defined under Section 171D of the IPC in the elections”, justice M Nagaprasanna said.
“The allegation is that the Code of Conduct has been violated by the petitioner, on speaking at a public gathering on 07-05-2023 by threatening the voters. The complaint is so vague that it would daunt vagueness itself. On such a vague complaint which is loosely made against the petitioner, the crime in Crime No.89 of 2023 is registered and the ‘Damocles sword of crime’ is left hanging on the petitioner projecting it to be an offence,” the Court said, as per LawBeat.
JP Nadda had filed a writ petition within the case in opposition to the FIR. The court docket allowed it, and added that contemplating Sections 171C, 171D, and 171F of the IPC if the grievance and FIR is allowed, what would unmistakably emerge is, “reckless registration of crime and a loosely laid offense”.
The FIR in opposition to Nadda was filed at Harapanahalli police station on May 9, accusing Nadda of violating the mannequin code of conduct and ‘threatening voters’.
On May 7, JP Nadda held an election rally in Karnataka’s Vijayanagara district. In his speech at Harapanahalli’s IB Circle, the BJP chief reportedly said that if the BJP loses the elections, the voters could also be disadvantaged of the advantages of central authorities schemes.
The grievance in opposition to Nadda was registered by the officers of the Election Vigilance Division in Karnataka, accusing Nadda of violating the mannequin code of conduct. During the listening to within the High Court, the state authorities’s counsel tried to pursue the court docket to permit an investigation and remit the case again to the Justice of the Peace. However, the court docket dominated that the grievance itself is simply too obscure and asserted that the case ought to be nipped within the bud.
