No legislative immunity for obscene remarks: Karnataka High Court refuses to quash case against BJP MLC CT Ravi

The Karnataka High Court on Friday refused the quash the criminal case filed last year against Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Member of Legislative Council (MLC) CT Ravi for allegedly making an obscene remark against Women and Child Development Minister Laxmi Hebbalkar on the floor of the Legislative Council..Justice M Nagaprasanna held that such remarks or actions would not be protected by a legislator's immunity from criminal prosecution for remarks made on the floor of a legislative house. The judge explained that such protection would only extend to words or actions that have some relation to legislative business. Ravi's alleged remarks and gestures have no such nexus to protect him from prosecution, the Court held. "The alleged words that the petitioner (Ravi) has uttered is calling the complainant a 'prostitute.' This undoubtedly forms the ingredient of both Sections 75 and 79 of the BNS. Whether such word spoken is immune from any action. The unequivocal and emphatic answer is, a 'NO.' The alleged word spoken, if spoken, or gesture made, if made, against a woman, certainly outrages her modesty and it above all, can have no nexus to the functioning of the House or no relation to a transaction of the business of the House ... Calling a fellow woman Legislator a prostitute, in the legislature has no nexus to the functioning of the House nor has nexus to the transaction of business in the House. No Nexus; No Privilege," the Court ruled. .Calling a fellow woman legislator a prostitute in the legislature has no nexus to the functioning of the House. No Nexus; No Privilege.Karnataka High Court.The criminal case against Ravi is tied to an incident that occurred on December 19, 2024, when the House was adjourned following commotion over Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s remarks on BR Ambedkar. Ravi allegedly used obscene words against Hebbalkar, who had objected to his sloganeering.Ravi was arrested soon after, following a complaint by Hebbalkar’s personal assistant. However, he was released from custody after the High Court questioned the need for such arrest and granted him interim bail the very next day.In January this year, the Court also stayed any coercive action against him until it decided on his plea to quash the complaint altogether. .Ravi's counsel told the Court that he is entitled to “blanket immunity” available to legislators under Article 194(2) of the Constitution. Senior Advocates Prabhuling Navadgi and CV Nagesh and advocate Siddharth Suman represented Ravi..The State countered that the immunity under Article 194 was not an absolute one, as has also been held by the Supreme Court. The State was represented by Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) BA Belliappa and Additional SPP BN Jagadeesha. Senior Advocate KA Phaneendra represented Laxmi Hebbalkar..Justice Nagaprasanna had earlier indicated that his ruling would depend on whether Ravi's alleged remarks on the floor of the house had any “nexus” with his duties as a lawmaker. Today, the Court ruled that they do not have any such nexus and, therefore, he was not immune from criminal prosecution over the same."The legislature is not a sanctuary for defamation or gendered invective, rather an institution where robust debate must be tempered with decorum and respect. I find neither in the alleged acts of the petitioner," the Court added in its judgment. .[Read Judgment].[Read Live Coverage]