The Supreme Court declined to entertain an appeal against a Karnataka High Court order that stayed an FIR against BJP MP Tejasvi Surya. The FIR, filed on March 22, accused Surya of posting objectionable tweets and violating the Model Code of Conduct ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta questioned why the petitioners did not first approach the High Court, leading Advocate Shadan Farasat to withdraw the plea.
NEW DELHI: Today (17th May): The Supreme Court of India refused to entertain an appeal challenging a Karnataka High Court order that had stayed proceedings against BJP MP Tejasvi Surya. The proceedings were related to allegedly objectionable tweets and purported violations of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
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The bench comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta. The bench questioned the petitioners’ decision to approach the Supreme Court directly instead of first addressing their grievances to the High Court.
“Everyone keeps rushing to Supreme Court. If we issue notice, are we taking a view? No. It is just an interim view. Why not the High Court?” the Bench remarked.
Advocate Shadan Farasat, representing the petitioners, subsequently offered to withdraw the plea, which the Court permitted.
The Supreme Court was reviewing an appeal against a March 22 order from the Karnataka High Court. In this order, Justice Krishna S Dixit stayed the first information report (FIR) filed against Surya concerning his tweets.
Background
According to media, the FIR was filed following a complaint from the Election Commission and the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP). The complaint accused Surya of targeting a minority community and inciting enmity between communities.
As a result, the FIR charged Surya under Sections 153A (promoting enmity between different groups) and 295A (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings) of the Indian Penal Code, as well as under provisions of the Representation of the People Act.
Similarly, An FIR was lodged against Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Shobha Karandlaje on March 20 under the Representation of People Act for allegedly delivering a hate speech that violated the Model Code of Conduct. Advocate Venkatesh P Dalwai, representing Karandlaje, contended that her speech did not influence anyone to vote based on caste, religion, community, class, or language, thus not meeting the criteria for the invoked provisions. He argued that the complaint was politically motivated in the lead-up to the Lok Sabha elections and was filed by the election official without proper consideration.
Advocate P Prasanna Kumar, representing Surya, argued that the charges of unlawful assembly should not lead to legal action since there were no orders prohibiting the assembly at the protest location. He claimed that the FIR was an attempt to tarnish Surya’s reputation and was an abuse of the legal process. Additionally, another FIR was filed against Tejasvi Surya for an alleged hate post on ‘X,’ which Kumar argued was politically motivated.
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