Hindutva extremist Puneeth Kerehalli was arrested by Bengaluru’s Sampigehalli police on Friday, November 3 under the Scheduled Caste Scheduled Tribe Atrocities Prevention Act, 1989. Puneeth, who has a notorious criminal record, is implicated in over 14 cases. This time, he finds himself facing charges of criminal intimidation, stemming from his inflammatory social media posts targeting Dalit and pro-Kannada activist Bhairappa Harish Kumar. In these posts, Puneeth unleashed a barrage of deeply offensive abuses against Harish and his family.
Based on Harish’s complaint, the Sampigehalli police registered an FIR under sections 3(1)(r) (intentionally insults or intimidates with intent to humiliate a member of a Scheduled Caste or a Scheduled Tribe in any place within public view) of Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention and Atrocities) Amendment, Ordinance 2014, and under various sections of the Information Technology (Amendment) Act 2008 and the Indian Penal Code.
Previously, the Bengaluru police had invoked the Goonda Act against Puneeth, leading to his arrest. However, he contested the arrest in the Karnataka High Court. Based on that, a report by the state advisory board concluded that there were no sufficient grounds to arrest him under the Goonda Act and submitted a report to the government, which directed the police to release him.
Since his release, Puneeth has continued to make incendiary statements, prompting four FIRs to be filed against him across various police stations in Karnataka – three in Bengaluru and one in Tumakuru. Puneeth, associated with the far-right Hindutva group Rashtra Rakshana Pade, is known for intercepting cattle transport vehicles and proudly publicising his actions as ‘rescues’. He was the main suspect in the murder of Idrees Pasha, a cattle transporter.
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