Siddaramaiah moves SC against HC’s refusal to quash FIR against him
New Delhi: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has moved the Supreme Court against a Karnataka High Court order that has dismissed his plea to quash an FIR lodged against him and others in 2022 in relation to a protest march.
The Congress leader has challenged the February 6 order of the high court that has 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, and 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 the rural development and panchayat raj minister in the southern state at the time.
The High Court also asked the AICC General Secretary and Karnataka in-charge Randeep Surjewala to be present before the Special Court on March 7, Minister for Large and Medium M.B. Patil on March 11 and Minister for Transport Ramalinga Reddy on March 15.
Rapping the Congress leaders, the High Court said that blocking the road because one is a representative of the people cannot be accepted.
The FIR was booked against CM Siddaramaiah and other Congress leaders with Bengaluru’s High Grounds police station on April 14, 2022.
The Congress party had organised a protest over a suicide case of a contractor Santhosh Patil and had demanded the resignation of then Minister K.S. Eshwarappa. During the protest traffic was thrown out of gear on the busy Race Course Road. The traffic had come to halt for several kilometres causing severe inconvenience to the public.
The police had lodged an FIR on charges of blocking roads causing traffic jams, affecting the law and order system. The CM and others had approached the High Court seeking quashing of the NBW issued by the Special Court and proceedings against them in the trial court.
