Karnataka High Court quashes case against MLA Munirathna booked for forcing people to wear BJP's shawl

The Karnataka High Court has quashed a First Information Report (FIR) against BJP Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) Munirathna for having forced people to wear BJP's shawl during elections [Munirathna v State by Nandini Layout]

In a brief 6-page order dated July 3, Justice M Nagaprasanna said that the complaint against Munirathna for an offence under Section 171C (interfering with voting right) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) was not lodged by an officer of the court or a public servant and this amounted to a violation of the procedure prescribed under the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC)

The Court relied on an earlier judgment of the High Court in M Mohan Kumar & Ors v State of Karnataka to state that the offence against Munirathna under Section 171C of IPC cannot hold since the complaint was not lodged by an officer of the court or a public servant as provided in Section 195 of CrPC.

Munirathna was also charged with offences of Section 506, 149, 363, Indian Penal Code, 1860 which correspond to criminal intimidation, unlawful assembly, and kidnapping.

The Court went on to dismiss the other offences stating they did not apply to the incident at hand and allowing proceedings to continue under them would be an abuse of the law.

"Insofar as the other offences are concerned, the other offences are also so loosely laid against the petitioner as the offence under Section 363 is abduction of a minor. There is no case of abduction of a minor in the case at hand. On all these, permitting further proceedings would become an abuse of the process of the law and result in miscarriage of justice," the Court said.

Munirathna was represented by advocate Narasimharaju.

High Court Government Pleader Waheeda MM appeared for the State.

[Read Order]