The Supreme Court on Monday stayed proceedings against Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and others in connection with a protest march held in the state in 2022 noting that if an ordinary citizen carried out a similar protest, would criminal proceedings be dismissed against him as well.
A bench of Justices Hrishikesh Roy and P K Mishra notified the Karnataka government and the complainant in the case.
“What if an ordinary citizen had carried out a similar protest? Would the criminal case be dismissed in that scenario as well?” Justice Kumar said that the court was also referencing decisions involving politicians, raising concerns about the impartiality of the legal system.
During the hearing, the apex court also upheld the high court order, which had imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 on him as well as Congress general secretary and Karnataka in-charge Randeep Singh Surjewala, state ministers M B Patil and Ramalinga Reddy.
The top court also directed him to appear before a special court on March 6.
The case was registered against the Congress leaders after they took out a march to lay siege to the then chief minister Basavaraj Bommai’s residence in Bengaluru, demanding the resignation of K S Eshwarappa, who was then the rural development and panchayat raj minister in the southern state.
According to police, the case pertained to blocking roads which caused massive traffic jams and inconvenience to the daily commuters.
The agitation was staged after a contractor, Santosh Patil, died by suicide accusing Eshwarappa of demanding a 40 per cent commission for a public work in his village.
(With PTI inputs)
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