Give us a chance to serve you and see the deference: HDK in Mangalore

January 22, 2012

Mangalore, January 22: JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy exhorted the youth of coastal Karnataka to shed their penchant for 'communal BJP' and give his party an opportunity to govern the in next Assembly elections.

He was speaking after inaugurating a JD(S) convention at Kuppepadavu near here on Sunday afternoon.

"Elect our party candidates as MLAs from this region in the next election and see the difference in fortunes”, said the former chief mister.

“You have given enough opportunities to both BJP and Congress, which have completely failed to provide good governance. The policy of both parties is to divide the society on religious lines. BJP project itself as savior of Hindus and Hinduism while the Congress portray itself as the savior of minorities like Christians and Muslims”, he said adding that there was no difference between the two parties.

Mr Kumaraswamy said that during his 20-month long tenure as the chief minister of Karnataka, he was able to take many pro-people decisions. “Banning of lottery was one among them. I was pressurized not to ban the lottery. Some people even tried to bribe me. But, I did not want to run the party on sinful money”, he said.

Latter, responding to media persons Mr Kumaraswamy said that JD(S) would contest independently for the impending Udupi-Chikmagalur Lok Sabha constituency by-poll. “The party will shortly announce the name of a suitable candidate. We are yet to decide on whether the candidate should be from Udupi or from Chikmagalur” he said.

Replying to a query the former CM said that he was fine with Karnataka High Court's decision that allowed probe into specific allegations him and external affairs minister SM Krishna in a complaint relating to illegal mining.

"There is specific reference to this issue with Sai Venkateshwara Minerals in the report given by the Lokayukta N Santosh Hegde to the state government, along with references to Krishna and Dharam Singh," he said.

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HC refuses to quash probe against Mangaluru WhatsApp admin over offensive posts

News Network

February 1,2026

Bengaluru: The Karnataka High Court has refused to quash an investigation against a WhatsApp group administrator accused of allowing the circulation of obscene and offensive images depicting Hindutva politicians and idols in 2021.

Justice M Nagaprasanna observed that, prima facie, the ingredients of the offence under Section 295A of the Indian Penal Code were made out. “The offence under Section 295A of the IPC is met to every word of its ingredient, albeit prima facie,” the judge said.

The petitioner, Sirajuddin, a resident of Belthangady taluk in Dakshina Kannada district, had challenged the FIR registered against him at the CEN (Cyber, Economics and Narcotics) police station, Mangaluru, for offences under Section 295A of the IPC and Section 67 of the Information Technology Act. Section 295A relates to punishment for deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage the religious feelings of any class of citizens.

According to the complaint filed by K Jayaraj Salian, also a resident of Belthangady taluk, he received a WhatsApp group link from an unknown source and was added to the group after accessing it. The group reportedly had six administrators and around 250 participants, where obscene and offensive images depicting Hindu deities and certain political figures were allegedly circulated repeatedly.

Sirajuddin was arrested in connection with the case and later released on bail on February 16, 2021. He argued before the court that he was being selectively targeted, while other administrators—including the creator of the group—were neither arrested nor investigated. He also contended that the Magistrate could not have taken cognisance of the offence under Section 295A without prior sanction under Section 196(1) of the CrPC.

Rejecting the argument, Justice Nagaprasanna held that prior sanction is required only at the stage of taking cognisance, and not at the stage of registration of the crime or during investigation.

The judge noted that the State had produced the entire investigation material before the court. “A perusal of the material reveals depictions of Hindu deities in an extraordinarily obscene, demeaning and profane manner. The content is such that its reproduction in a judicial order would itself be inappropriate,” the court said, adding that the material, on its face, had the tendency to outrage religious feelings and disturb communal harmony.

Observing that the case was still at the investigation stage, the court said it could not interdict the probe at this juncture. However, it expressed concern that the investigating officer appeared to have not proceeded uniformly against all administrators. The court clarified that if the investigation revealed the active involvement of any member in permitting the circulation of such content, they must also be proceeded against.

“At this investigative stage, any further observation by this Court would be unnecessary,” the order concluded.

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