Bhuvana Marni
Published on: October 23, 2022 at 19:55 IST
The Indian Youth Congress’s (IYC) president in Nelamangala assembly constituency and Ramakrishna V, head of the party’s legal cell there, were the subject of a First Information Report (FIR) filed last month against them for allegedly instructing orders to others to paste PayCM campaign posters all over the city.
The FIR has been rejected by the Karnataka High Court.
Justice M Nagaprasanna in the order said, “The allegations made against the petitioners would not attract any of the offences either under the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act or under the Karnataka Open Place Disfigurement Act.”
An FIR was filed by a police officer on September 22, alleging that when he was on night-beat duty he saw three persons pasting posters on the walls in public places.
When they were chased and caught, they allegedly told the cops that the petitioner over the telephone had instructed them to paste the posters all over Nelamangala town.
The case was filed for violations of the Karnataka Open Place Disfigurement Act’s Section 3, the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act of 1984’s Section 3(1), and the Indian Penal Code’s Section 290. The two leaders of Congress are practicing advocates.
The bench cited the IPC’s Section 425 and Section 3(1) of the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act, both of which deal with mischief, saying, “The petitioners are accused of ordering the pasting of the bills/posters over the phone, but since they haven’t engaged in any behaviour that qualifies as an offence under the Act, they cannot be considered to have violated any of its provisions.”
“If they have not committed any act that would constitute an offence under the provisions of the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act, the provisions of the Karnataka Open Place Disfigurement Act also cannot be laid against them,” it continued. The petitioners are allegedly accused of giving another accused person a telephonic order to place the posters.
Quashing the proceedings against the petitioners, the court said, “It is made clear that the observations made in the course of the order are only for the purpose of consideration of the case of the petitioners and shall not bind or influence the investigation against any other accused.”
Congress in Karnataka had last month launched the ‘PayCM’ campaign to target Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai.