The Supreme Court Today (July 25) quashed all criminal charges against Chakravarty Sulibele for calling Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge ‘Ayogya’. The Court found no legal basis for continuing the case.
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NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court of India on Friday cancelled the criminal case filed against right-wing speaker and activist Chakravarty Sulibele.
This case was started by the Karnataka Police in 2024 after Sulibele had, during a public speech in Raichur, called Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge an “Ayogya“, which means “incompetent” in simple terms.
The Bench of Justices MM Sundresh and N Kotiswar Singh passed this decision. The detailed court order is still awaited.
In January 2024, during a public event held in Raichur, Karnataka, Sulibele had used the word “Ayogya” while referring to Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge. Because of this, Congress Kalaburagi Unit President Jagadev Guttedar Kalagi filed a criminal complaint against Sulibele.
The complaint alleged that Sulibele’s words were aimed at spreading hatred and violence against Kharge’s caste.
Soon after the complaint, the Karnataka Police registered a criminal case under several serious laws, including:
- Section 153A of IPC: Promoting enmity between different groups,
- Section 153B: Making claims against national integration,
- Section 505(2): Creating hatred or ill-will between groups,
- and Section 3(2)(v-a) of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
Sulibele then approached the Karnataka High Court, which partly accepted his appeal. In October 2024, the High Court removed the charges under the SC/ST Act but allowed the police to continue investigating the IPC charges.
Unsatisfied with this partial relief, Sulibele moved the Supreme Court, arguing that the High Court misunderstood the word “Ayogya”. He claimed that the court wrongly interpreted the word as “Rascal”, which is a more offensive term. According to Sulibele:
“The word ‘Ayogya’ has several synonyms, with the word closest in meaning being ‘worthless’.”
He also said:
“The High Court had not interpreted the word correctly, in the facts of this case.”
Today, the Supreme Court agreed with Sulibele’s argument and quashed the entire criminal case against him.
The legal team arguing for Sulibele in the Supreme Court was led by Senior Advocate Aruna Shyam, and the petition was filed through advocates Sudhanshu Prakash and Suyog Herele.
CASE TITLE:
Mithun Chakravarty Devidas Shet v. State of Karnataka and anr.
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