Karnataka high court quashes atrocity caseagainst Kris Gopalakrishnan, others

Bengaluru: In a significant relief for Infosys co-founder Senapathy Kris Gopalakrishnan and 15 others, the Karnataka High Court has quashed an atrocity case brought against them by a former faculty member of the Indian Institute of Science (IISc).
The private complaint is an abuse of the process of law and is clearly a vexatious attempt to harass the petitioners for terminating the complainant's service, Justice Hemant Chandanagoudar said while quashing the FIR registered against them.

"The dispute between the parties is essentially civil in nature, albeit presented with a criminal colour," the judge said.
IISc director Prof Govindan Rangarajan, registrar Capt Sridhar Warrier (retired), dean (administration and finance) Anil Kumar P, professors Dipshikha Chakravortty, Namratha Gundaiah, KVS Hari and S Dasappa, medical officer Dr Nirmala, retired professors Sandhya S Visweswariah, P Balachandra, Anjali A Karande and Chattopadhyay K, retired director P Balaram and advocates (representing IISc) Pradeep S Sawkar and Abhilash Raju are the others granted relief in the case.
Gopalakrishnan was named in the complaint as the chair of the governing council of the institute.
D Sanna Durgappa, a former faculty member from the tribal Bovi community at Centre for Sustainable Technology, IISc, had claimed that in 2014, he had been wrongfully implicated in a honey trap case, leading to his dismissal from service. He had alleged that he had been subjected to caste abuse and threats. His private complaint was pending before the 70th additional city civil and sessions judge. Gopalakrishnan and others challenged the complaint.
Justice Chandanagoudar noted that a perusal of the complaint made it clear that the allegations against the petitioners did not constitute offences under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. "Durgappa was terminated from service for sexual harassment after a departmental inquiry... The termination was challenged by him before this court. In that proceeding, the parties filed a joint memo, and as per the terms of the settlement, the termination was converted into resignation," the judge noted.
"Durgappa agreed to withdraw all the proceedings and complaints lodged with various authorities, such as the National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Karnataka Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, additional DGP, Directorate of Civil Rights Enforcement, and the deputy SP of CRE Cell, among others. Following the settlement, all terminal benefits were released in favour of the complainant. The disposal of the writ petition by the high court based on the joint memo has attained finality," the judge added.
"Despite this, the complainant filed two similar private complaints. The registration of these complaints was challenged by some of the petitioners/accused before this court. This court, by orders dated Oct 30, 2023, and June 7, 2022, quashed the FIRs, holding that the dispute between the parties arose out of the termination of the complainant, which was later converted into resignation, although the matter was given a criminal colour," the judge observed.
"Liberty is reserved to the petitioners to file an appropriate petition before the advocate general for seeking permission to initiate criminal contempt proceedings against respondent 1 (the complainant)," Justice Chandanagoudar specified in his order.