Karnataka High Court Quashes Case Against BJP MP Tejasvi Surya Accused Of Spreading 'Fake News' About A Farmer's Suicide

The Karnataka High Court on Thursday (December 12) quashed a case registered against BJP Member of Parliament Tejasvi Surya for allegedly spreading 'fake news' regarding the suicide of a farmer in Haveri district.

Justice M Nagaprasanna while dictating the order said, "Allowed quashed". 

The court had reserved its order on December 5 after hearing the parties.

During the hearing the senior counsel appearing for Surya said that the allegation is that he has made certain tweets based on certain news items. "Even if it is taken as true there is no ingredient of Section 353 (BNS) made out. As a matter of fact he has deleted the tweet. Criminal proceedings against this petitioner will not survive," he said. He further said that the next day the father of the deceased had also given an interview to the media.

The counsel appearing for the State however opposed the plea and said that the tweet "gives the impression that the present dispensation had done all this".

At this stage the court orally said, "It is a very sorry (situation)...A Life was lost. A farmers son commits suicide for debts or whatever it is. All of you are playing politics with it".

On November 14 the high court had by way of interim relief stayed investigation in the case registered against Surya. The court had then passed the interim order on the petition filed by Surya seeking to quash the FIR. The court took into consideration the submission of the petitioner that the alleged tweet has been deleted after the police issued a clarification in regards to the suicide and also the interview give to the media by the father of the deceased.

On November 7, Surya had shared an article from Kannada news portals claiming that a farmer, Rudrappa Channappa Balikai, had died by suicide after discovering his land had been taken over by the Waqf Board.

The post was later deleted after it was revealed that the claims were unfounded. The Haveri district Superintendent of Police (SP) clarified that the suicide of Rudrappa Channappa Balikai had occurred on January 6, 2022, but was unrelated to any Waqf Board land dispute but was due to financial pressures from crop loss and outstanding loans.

Following which the police registered a suo-motu case under Section 353(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) on November 7, for publishing or circulating statements intended to promote hatred, ill-will, or enmity between different groups.

Appearance: Senior Counsel Aruna Shyam along with Advocates Anirudh A Kulkarni, Akshay S Vasist, Suyog Herele & Aravind Suchindran for Petitioner.

Case Title: L S Tejasvi Surya AND State of Karnataka

Case No: Criminal Petition No 12667 of 2024

Citation no: 2024 LiveLaw (Kar) 509