E-Paper
K’taka HC stays arrest of BSY in Pocso case
The Karnataka high court on Friday restrained the CID from arresting former chief minister BS Yediyurappa in a case registered under the Pocso Act.
The Karnataka high court on Friday restrained the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) from arresting former chief minister BS Yediyurappa in a case registered under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act, noting his willingness to appear for interrogation on June 17, as it criticised the state over its approach and the need to apprehend the senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader.
“If an ex-chief minister is treated that way, I am just wildly thinking, what will happen to a layman… the way things have happened, there is doubt that there is something hidden in this matter,” a bench of justice S Krishna Dixit said while hearing a clutch of petitions by the accused seeking anticipatory bail and quashing of the first information report (FIR) registered against him.
On Thursday, a Bengaluru court had issued a non-bailable arrest warrant against Yediyurappa after he failed to appear for questioning a day earlier. The 81-year-old was booked in March under provisions of the Pocso Act and Indian Penal Code following a complaint by the mother of a 17-year-old girl, that he molested her daughter during a meeting at his residence in Dollars Colony in February this year.
The case was handed over to CID for a detailed inquiry, even as the veteran BJP leader dismissed the allegation and vowed to deal with it legally.
Appearing for the state, advocate general (AG) Shashi Kiran Shetty told the high court that Yediyurappa had left for Delhi after summons were issued to him on June 10 to join the probe. “Plane ticket was booked only after the notice was issued to him,” Shetty said.
The court, however, noted that the former chief minister had sent a letter to the police volunteering to join the investigation on June 17.
“He is not some Tom, Dick, or Harry. He is a former chief minister of the state. Is it your case that he will flee the country? What can he do by leaving for Delhi from Bangalore?” the court said.
“Since the petitioner on the basis of the letter dated June 11, 2024 volunteering to appear on June 17, 2024 is brought to the notice of the court, we cannot immediately jump to the conclusion that a case is made out for arrest or detention nor for custodial interrogation of the petitioner who happens to be a former chief minister of the state and in the late evening of his life with ailments natural to that age,” it added.
The judge also noted that Yediyurappa had earlier joined the probe in the case..
“The records reveal that the police had issued a notice under section 41A of CrPC dated March 28, 2024 and accordingly, the petitioner had appeared before the jurisdictional officer and participated in the investigation process. Since the second notice dated June 10, 2024 issued on similar lines and served on the petitioner on June 11, 2024 the petitioner did not appear before the jurisdictional police and therefore, arrest warrant at the hands of trial judge was secured,” he said.
Yediyurappa’s counsel CV Nagesh contended that the complainant, who passed away due to illness on May 26, had a history of filing frivolous cases.
The high court acknowledged the need to examine the credibility of the complainant.
“There should not be any kind of arrest as he is cooperating. So, any such warrant or otherwise has been put on hold,” another lawyer of the BJP leader, Sandeep C Patil, said.
