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A political party in Karnataka has sought the impeachment of Justice R Devdas, a judge of the Karnataka High Court. The impeachment has been sought for an order the judge passed on January 20, 2025, asking the police to take appropriate action on a complaint filed by two individuals against activist Mahesh Shetty Thimmarodi for leading protests and making ‘defamatory allegations’ against D Veerendra Heggade, the head of Shri Kshetra Dharmasthala temple in Dakshina Kannada district.
President of the Karnataka Rashtra Samithi Ravi Krishna Reddy wrote to President Droupadi Murmu on June 25, seeking the removal of Justice R Devdas in connection with a judgement pertaining to a case filed in 2023 regarding the rape and murder of Sowjanya.
Sowjanya was raped and murdered in 2012 in Ujire, a village in Dakshina Kannada district. The man who was arrested for the crime, Santosh Rao, was acquitted in 2023. Sowjanya’s family has maintained that they believe three men who had links with the Heggade family were behind the crime.
No one killed Sowjanya: A botched police investigation let her killer get away
Mahesh Shetty Thimmarodi, the president of the Hindu Jagarana Vedike in Belthangady taluk, has been at the forefront of protests asking justice for Sowjanya.
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Sheenappa, an employee of the Sri Kshetra Dharmasthala Rural Development Project (SKDRDP) and Nandeesh Kumar Jain, a relative of Veerendra Heggade had approached the High Court in 2023. They said in their plea that despite previous injunctions against him, Mahesh continued to make statements on Dharmasthala and Heggade. They also accused the police of not taking action on Mahesh despite having filed complaints.
Justice Devdas concurred with the petitioners that freedom of speech cannot be at the cost of a person’s dignity and directed the police to take action against Mahesh if needed.
The Dharmasthala temple is in news again after a man, who claimed to have worked at the temple as a sanitation worker, alleged that he had buried bodies of scores of women who had been raped and murder3ed. The police have filed a case based on this complaint and the investigation is set to begin.
Karnataka: Man who alleged secret burials in Dharmasthala seeks witness protection
In his letter to the President, Ravi Krishna has alleged that Justice Devdas, in his judgement dated January 20, 2025, had said, “The respondent police are required to take action in accordance with law if they find that (Mahesh Shetty Thimmarodi) or his followers or any person makes any statement in the open public or publishes any such derogatory statement, which is an offence in accordance with the law.”
Based on this order, the police cancelled hundreds of protests that were planned against Veerendra Heggade across the state by citing this judgement, Ravi Krishna said in his letter.
Karnataka HC allows activists to hold meeting on Sowjanya case after police threaten legal action
Ravi Krishna also drew the President’s attention to the number of temporary injunctions granted by the lower courts, particularly Bengaluru City Civil Judge S Nataraj.
The letter said that in a case filed on March 21, Judge Nataraj had passed an order the very next day ordering the take down of 1,588 YouTube videos, 645 Instagram videos and slides, and 633 Facebook videos and slides that were related to the Sowjanya case and Dharmasthala.
Ravi Krishna said that it was “a mathematical and logistical impossibility” for a judge to have reviewed over 2,200 unique urls to ascertain their defamatory nature within 24 hours.
Ravi Krishna also said that the role of the registry of the Bengaluru City Civil Court was “deeply suspect and warrants separate investigation” as multiple similar suits filed by the same group of plaintiffs acting on behalf of Veerendra Heggade were repeatedly allocated to the same trial judge S Nataraj.
He said that he would urge the Karnataka government to set up a commission under the Commissions of Enquiry Act 1951 to investigate Judge S Nataraj and the role of the registry. He also urged President Droupadi to initiate the process of removal of Justice Devdas under Article 217 of the Constitution, and investigate Justice Devdas’ conduct under the Judges (Inquiry) Act 1968.
Editor’s Note: TNM has used Sowjanya’s name with written consent from her mother.