Karnataka High Court rejects criminal proceedings against the students of Bengaluru College

The Karnataka High Court has rejected a criminal proceedings submitted as part of the planned box and planned tribes (prevention of atrocities) against seven students from Jain University in Bengaluru. The case came from a sketch that was listed during a College Festival that was supposedly satirical but was accused of derogating comments on Dr. Bram Ambedar and the Dalit community contains.

The Court ruled that the sketch, which was part of a crazy advertising performance, was a form of entertainment and satire that was protected according to Article 19 of the Indian Constitution and guaranteed freedom of speech and expression. Justice SR Krishna Kumar emphasized in his order that the performance was lacking in the intention of publicly humiliating or insulting members of the SC/ST community, and there was no evidence of supporting malice or disrespect of dalits.

The case was light in February 2023 when a video of the performance became viral, which was submitted to a complaint by Madhusudhan Kn, deputy director of the Social Socal Department. He argued that the performance that was staged in a public environment and shared online should be examined under the SC/ST law.

However, the court found that the FIR was not submitted by a member of the SC/ST community, and there was no concrete evidence that indicated that the students intentionally tried to insult or intimidate dalits. The judgment also referred to several judgments of the Supreme Court, which emphasized that the continuation of the case would be abuse of the legal process.

In addition to the students, two faculty members – director Neelkant Borkar and assistant professor Praveen Thokdar – were also named in this case. The court's judgment marks the end of the court proceedings, with the students and faculty members being cleared by the charges.

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