Karnataka High Court Stays Probe Against YouTuber Ajeet Bharti For Remarks Against Rahul Gandhi, Says Two National Dailies Made Similar Claims
The Karnataka High Court on Monday stayed proceedings against YouTuber Ajeet Bharti who is charged under Section 153-A, 502 (2) of IPC for allegedly putting up a video tweet making remarks against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.In the video, Bharti is stated to have claimed that the Congress leader will re-establish the Babri Masjid at the site of the new Ram temple in Ayodhya.A single judge...
The Karnataka High Court on Monday stayed proceedings against YouTuber Ajeet Bharti who is charged under Section 153-A, 502 (2) of IPC for allegedly putting up a video tweet making remarks against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.
In the video, Bharti is stated to have claimed that the Congress leader will re-establish the Babri Masjid at the site of the new Ram temple in Ayodhya.
A single judge bench of Justice M Nagaprasanna noted that the claim made in the video tweet was based on reports appearing in two national dailies. It said, “If the tweet is a result of certain newspaper reports which were also a claim made by certain Ex-congress leaders and the petitioners has also tweeted with regards to such claims it becomes a claim versus claim.”
It added,
“Therefore, the genesis of the problem lies in the claim as aforequoted which has resulted in the tweet by the petitioner. The tweet by the petitioner results in a complaint being given against the petitioner for spreading false news and fabricated propaganda, violating section 153A and 505 of IPC. The very title that it is fabricated propaganda is contrary to the records as the national newspapers had carried what was claimed as aforequoted. Therefore, till the special public prosecutor would steer clear with truthfulness as regards to the publication as aforequoted, no further investigation can be permitted against this petitioner.”
Accordingly it stayed the investigation and posted the matter for further hearing on July 19.
As per the complainant dated June 15, Bharti incited communal disharmony by posting the video tweet on his social media account.
The plea said there is no material on record to show that Bharti has committed any offence and there is no averment in the complaint as to how his tweet created communal disharmony.
Appearance: Senior Advocate Aruna Shyam a/w Advocates Anirudh A Kulkarni & Akshay S Vasist.
Case Title: Crl. P. No. 5877/2024