Bengaluru:
The Karnataka High Court has abolished the registered FIR against Infosys co-founder Chris Gopalakrishnan and other Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 and has termed the complaint as “misuse of law process” and provided freedom to initiate criminal dispute proceedings against the complainant.
Justice Hemant Chandangauder, who passed the order on 16 April, noticed that the complaint was “an attempt to harass the petitioners.”
The FIR was based on a private complaint filed by Da Sana Durgappa, former faculty member of the Indian Institute of Science (IISC), which was abolished in 2014 after an internal investigation into allegations of sexual harassment.
The court said that the end was later converted into resignation after a challenge before the High Court in 2015. Then as part of the settlement, Durgappa agreed to withdraw all complaints and legal proceedings against the institute and its representatives.
Despite this, he proceeded to register two more FIRs, both ended in 2022 and 2023. The current FIR, the court saw, had similar allegations and misused the judicial process.
Reacting to the verdict, Chris Gopalakrishnan said, “I have full confidence in our courts and justice system. The decision confirms that the misuse of legal provisions is a fair and no place in the system. I am grateful that the Hon’ble High Court has exposed the false and truth.”
The court further stated that the allegations did not attract any offense under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, stating that the case was inevitably citizen in nature, but was incorrectly given a criminal color.
The High Court has allowed Chris Gopalakrishnan and other petitioners to contact the Advocate General for permission to initiate criminal contempt proceedings against Durgappa.
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