The Karnataka High Court on Thursday, May 21, stayed criminal proceedings initiated against alleged cow vigilante Puneet Kerehalli and his associate Gopi Gowda in a case involving allegations of casteist abuse against the President of a Dalit Association.
A vacation bench of Justice K V Aravind has issued notices to both the Police and the complainant, seeking their responses. The matter is scheduled to be heard next in the second week of June.
The FIR, filed on May 15 at the Masti Police Station in Kolar, invokes provisions under Sections 3(1)(r) and 3(1)(s) of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and several sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). The petitioners have sought quashing of the case, terming the allegations “false, frivolous, politically and personally motivated.”
Kerehalli, who heads the Hindutva outfit Rashtra Rakshana Pade, is also accused in the April 2023 murder of cattle trader Idrees Pasha. He recently said on a podcast that over 46 cases have been registered against him, including allegations of assault on cattle traders and trespassing into homes while accusing residents of being undocumented Bangladeshi immigrants.
According to the complaint filed by MV Nagaraj, President of a Dalit Association, he intervened when the accused were reportedly creating a ruckus at a meat shop near Kolar suspected of involvement in cattle slaughter. The FIR alleges that the petitioners abused Nagaraj using casteist slurs, attempted to assault him, and tried to tear his clothes.
In their plea, the petitioners argue that they visited the spot after receiving information about alleged illegal slaughter at a nearby facility owned by Saddham Khan, claiming they were acting to prevent a violation of the Karnataka Prevention of Slaughter and Preservation of Cattle Act, 2020.
They further state that videos recorded during the incident, circulated on social media, do not show any caste-based insults or assault. The petition asserts that their protest was lawful and that the mere disclosure of the complainant’s identity as a Dalit Association President cannot automatically lead to offences under the SC/ST Act.
The petitioners have maintained that the FIR is a counterblast intended to silence their protest against alleged illegal cattle slaughter.
