The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed the Karnataka government’s challenge to a State High Court order that had quashed an FIR against BJP MP Tejasvi Surya over a now-deleted social media post related to a farmer suicide in Haveri district.
A bench headed by Chief Justice BR Gavai and also comprising Justice V Vinod Chandran strongly disapproved of the political overtones of the case, cautioning against the use of courts to settle electoral scores.
“What is this? Don’t politicise the matter. Fight your battles before the electorate,” the bench remarked while dismissing the petition, also imposing costs on the State government.
On November 7, 2024, Tejasvi Surya had shared a report from a Kannada news portal on ‘X’ (formerly Twitter), which claimed that a farmer, Rudrappa Chamnappa Balilki, had died by suicide after allegedly discovering that his land had been taken over.
However, the Haveri Superintendent of Police later clarified that the farmer’s suicide—recorded on January 8, 2022—was not linked to any Waqf Board land dispute but rather stemmed from financial distress due to crop loss and debt. Surya subsequently deleted the post.
Despite this, a suo motu FIR was registered the same day under Section 353(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), for circulating material allegedly intended to promote hatred or ill-will between different groups.
In December 2024, the Karnataka High Court quashed the FIR, stating that the essential ingredients to attract the penal offence were not made out. It added that continuing with the criminal proceedings would amount to an “abuse of process of law”, particularly when no investigation-worthy material was present.
Challenging this, the State had moved the Supreme Court.