Bengaluru: The High Court of Karnataka on Friday ordered issuing notices to the High Grounds police in Bengaluru and Ramesh Babu, an office-bearer of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC), over a petition filed by the BJP's national president J P Nadda and its IT cell chief Amit Malviya.
Justice Krishna S Dixit ordered notices to the respondents and adjourned the hearing.
Nadda and Malviya challenged the FIR registered against them on May 5, 2024, over a controversial post on X (formerly Twitter).
The post, uploaded on April 4, 2024, contained an animated video showing the Congress party "favouring" Muslims in reservation at the expense of SCs, STs and OBCs.
The video depicted three birds hatched from eggs (indicative of SCs, STs and OBCs) eaten by the bird hatched from the fourth egg (Muslims).
Based on Babu's complaint, High Grounds police booked the BJP leaders under IPC Section 505 (2) for creating enmity and hatred using religion and Section 125 of the Representation of People's Act.
Challenging this in the high court, Nadda and Malviya contended that they were "falsely implicated" because they were the national president and national social media in charge of the party, respectively. They argued that just because they occupy certain posts in the BJP, it doesn't mean that they play an "active role" in each and every post on social media in every state.
Citing another FIR registered by Bengaluru's Malleswaram police in the same case, the BJP functionaries contended that it violates the apex court guidelines that stipulates that there cannot be two FIRs for the same cause of action.
Published 07 June 2024, 14:14 IST