The Karnataka High Court on Monday quashed a hate speech registered against news anchor Rahul Shivshankar over his post on X about the State government's allocation of funds for the welfare of religious minorities..Justice M Nagaprasanna passed the order on a plea by Shivshankar who had challenged the registration of the first information report (FIR) against him. "The registration of a crime on a frivolous complaint is on the face of it, is a reckless act on the part of jurisdictional Police," the Court held. .The judge had granted interim relief to Shivshankar in the case on September 27, 2024..Shivshankar had approached the High Court in February last year seeking the quashing of the FIR registered against him following a complaint by one N Ambrish, a city municipal council member from Kolar in Karnataka.During the hearings, the State had argued that Shivshankar had promoted enmity among religious groups by tweeting that funds meant for Hindu groups had been allocated for the development of Waqf properties, Haj Bhavan in Mangalore and the development of Christian places of worship. The State also said that Shivshankar had a “history” of making unverified claims and posting similar things on social media in the past. Shivshankar’s counsel maintained that there was no reason to book the news anchor in the criminal case. He contended that Shivshankar was being targeted by the Crime Investigation Department (CID) because of a TV show that he anchored on the MUDA scam.He further argued that the anchor was merely doing his job by bringing budget-related facts to the public eye. The Court, in its judgment, found merit in this submission. "The tweet is rooted in a factual analysis of a public document, The Budget. Its analysis is done by the journalist. There is not even a modicum of ingredient of both the offences. The submission that such a tweet could sow the seeds of communal discord, is a figment of imagination," the Court said. .Justice Nagaprasanna also questioned the bonafides of the complainant, since he had not appeared before the Court even once to defend the criminal complaint he made. "Despite several opportunities, the complainant has not appear before the Court. The intention of the complainant is clear, only to register the crime, but not to pursue it. This has been the case, in cases of the kind, where crimes are registered by jurisdictional police on a flippant complaint. When challenged, none would appear to pursue the crime except in some circumstances," the Court said. .The Court eventually concluded that even if the allegations were taken on their face value, they would not constitute the alleged offences even under Section 153A (promoting enmity) or Section 505 (public mischief) of the Indian Penal Code. The Court, therefore, allowed Shivshankar's plea and quashed the FIR against him. .[Read Judgment]
