Karnataka High Court halts police action against BJP leader accused of trying to delete Muslim voters in Belagavi

The Karnataka High Court on Thursday directed the police not to take any coercive steps against BJP leader Ravi Patil and two of his supporters in a case registered against them for attempting to delete the names of 198 Muslim voters from electoral rolls during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process in Belagavi.

Justice Venkatesh Naik T, sitting at the Dharwad Bench, passed the interim direction while hearing a plea filed by Patil and his supporters Shankar Birappa Naik and Prashant Mundimani seeking to quash the FIR registered by the Market Police, Belagavi.

The Court issued notice to the State as well as Congress worker and complainant Meerasab Sanadi. The police was given time to file its statement of objections along with the latest investigation report.

“Till then, the respondent-police/IO shall not take any coercive steps against the petitioners,” the Court ordered.

The FIR alleges that the petitioners, along with around 20-25 persons, conspired to target voters belonging to the Muslim community and sought deletion of the names of 198 voters from the electoral roll during the SIR process.

The petitioners contended that filing objections during the electoral roll revision process, including objections concerning multiple entries, cannot by itself constitute the offences alleged in the FIR. They relied upon provisions of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960 and the Election Commission's SIR guidelines.

They further argued that the FIR does not identify any specific forged document or signature allegedly created or used by them.

On the allegation of cheating, the petitioners submitted that the FIR does not disclose any dishonest intention at the inception of the alleged transaction or delivery of property, which they argued are essential ingredients of the offence under Section 318(4) of the BNS.

The FIR invokes Sections 190, 192, 3(5), 3(7), 318(4), 336(3), 336(4), 353 and 61(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023.

Meanwhile, a Belagavi court had granted anticipatory bail to Patil on October 3 in connection with the same case.

The matter has been posted the matter to October 13.

Senior Advocate M Aruna Shyam, along with Advocates Shubham F Kusalapur and Deveeraj T Bastwadkar, appeared for the petitioners.