The Karnataka High Court has quashed a second First Information Report (FIR) registered against sitting MLA Basanagouda R. Patil (Yatnal) over a speech delivered during Ramanavami celebrations on April 7, 2025. Justice M. Nagaprasanna passed the order on October 16, 2026, allowing the criminal petition filed under Section 528 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023.
The case concerned allegations that the MLA's speech hurt religious sentiments and promoted communal disharmony. The Court examined the circumstances surrounding the two FIRs registered over the same speech.
Background
The controversy arose from a speech delivered by Patil at a Ramanavami programme on April 7, 2025. A complaint led to the registration of Crime No. 80/2025 at Gandhi Chowk Police Station in Vijayapura under Sections 196(1), 299 and 353(1) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023.
A second FIR, Crime No. 51/2025, was registered at Hubballi Town Police Station on April 17, 2025, concerning the same speech.
Patil approached the High Court to challenge the second FIR. His counsel argued that separate criminal proceedings had been initiated over the same incident. The complainant, however, opposed the petition, maintaining that the allegations warranted investigation.
The Court noted that the first FIR, Crime No. 80/2025, had already been quashed by an earlier order dated August 20, 2026. That decision had become final.
While examining the legal principles governing alleged offences involving communal disharmony and religious sentiments, the Court referred to Supreme Court decisions, including Patricia Mukhim v. State of Meghalaya. These decisions emphasise the need to assess the actual words used, their context and the intention behind the expression.
The judgment relied on the following principle concerning the assessment of allegedly objectionable speech:
"The standard of an ordinary reasonable man or as they say in English law 'the man on the top of a Clapham omnibus' should be applied."
The Court also considered whether the allegations disclosed the essential elements of the offences under the BNS. It concluded that the necessary ingredients of the alleged offences had not been established on the facts of the case.
In its concluding observations, the High Court directly addressed the effect of the earlier decision on the second FIR:
"The said order has become final. The second crime on the same incident must tumble down for the very reason of quashment of the crime in Crime No.80 of 2025."
Accordingly, Justice M. Nagaprasanna allowed Criminal Petition No. 7632 of 2025 and quashed FIR No. 51/2025 registered by Hubballi Town Police Station on April 17, 2025, which was pending before the JMFC I Court, Hubli.
Pending applications, if any, were also disposed of.
