BENGALURU: The High Court of Karnataka on Thursday stayed the proceedings against Union Minister for Steel and Heavy Industries HD Kumaraswamy in a case related to his alleged objectionable statement against an opposition party candidate contesting the Lok Sabha elections from Bengaluru Rural constituency.
Justice S Sunil Dutt Yadav passed the interim order staying the proceedings till the next date of hearing. The matter was posted to the third week of January for hearing.
Referring to the complaint registered at the Gubbi police station in Tumakuru district on April 18, 2024 after a campaign meeting on April 13, 2024, the petitioner stated that the magistrate took cognisance of the offences under Section 171G of IPC on November 15, 2025. The complaint, however, did not disclose or constitute the commission of any offence by the petitioner.
The petitioner stated that the material on record, including the statement of witnesses, categorically confirmed that the accused never mentioned the name of the candidate contesting from Bengaluru Rural constituency during a media interaction.
The Investigating officer filed a ‘B’ report on two occasions, but the magistrate recorded that “any prudent man can infer” that the accused referred to the candidate, thereby conceding that no direct or explicit statement existed.
The impugned order showed that cognisance was taken primarily on the basis of a newspaper report published on April 14, 2024, which the magistrate expressly acknowledged to be based on a wrong impression, the petitioner said.
The magistrate failed to identify any specific false statement attributable to the petitioner and also failed to show how the alleged statement, even if assumed, could affect the result of an election.
The magistrate also failed to examine or record the mandatory ingredients of Section 171G of IPC and rejected the ‘B’ report solely on conjecture, without pointing to any legal or factual infirmity in the investigation, the petitioner stated.
