The Karnataka High Court has nullified the criminal proceedings against Karnataka Chief Minister DK Shivakumar concerning allegations that he distributed a modified image of a protest organized by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders. This decision was delivered in the case of D K Shivakumar v. State of Karnataka.
Justice M Nagaprasanna presided over the matter and granted Shivakumar’s plea to dismiss the proceedings against him. The case against the Chief Minister hinged on accusations that an altered image, allegedly shared from his social media account, depicted BJP leaders in an unfavorable light.
Advocate HV Praveen Gowda, representing Shivakumar, contended that the charges under Sections 153A, 505(2), 504, and 464 of the Indian Penal Code were unfounded. He argued that the contentious post was uploaded by a member of the social media team, and not directly by Shivakumar. Gowda further emphasized that the complaint wrongly sought to implicate his client solely based on his leadership position in the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee, suggesting that such content would require his explicit approval.
The controversy traces back to a protest led by BJP officials against the arrest of Srikanth Pujari, a participant in the 1992 Babri Masjid demolition protests. During this demonstration, BJP members displayed placards reading, “I’m also a Kar Sevak, arrest me too.” The complaint claimed that the Congress IT Cell altered the placard messages to imply BJP leaders’ involvement in various scams, and this manipulated image was then circulated via social media, purportedly from Shivakumar’s account.
Yogendra Hodaghatta, State Convener of the BJP Legal Cell, lodged a private complaint before the Special Court for MPs and MLAs, claiming that the post constituted a falsified document intended to incite communal discord. Following this, the special court in Bengaluru instructed the city police to investigate the allegations against Shivakumar.
