The Karnataka High Court has quashed proceedings under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act against Infosys co-founder and IISc Council Chairman S. Krish Gopalakrishnan and 15 others, including several Indian Institute of Science (IISc) faculty members. The case was based on a complaint by former IISc professor Dr. D. Sanna Durgappa, who had alleged caste-based discrimination and wrongful dismissal from service.
Justice Hemant Chandangoudar, delivering the judgment, stated that the allegations made in the complaint did not constitute offences under the SC/ST Act. “The present private complaint is an abuse of the process of law,” the court observed, adding that it was a vexatious attempt to harass the petitioners by giving a civil dispute a criminal color.
Dr. Durgappa had earlier claimed he was falsely implicated in a 2014 honey trap case, which led to his termination from the institute. However, the court noted that the termination followed a departmental inquiry related to allegations of sexual harassment and was later converted into a resignation as part of a settlement. The terms of that settlement—recorded in a joint memo filed in W.P. No.19594/2015—had been fulfilled, with all terminal benefits paid to Durgappa, who also agreed to withdraw all related proceedings and complaints.
Despite this, the complainant filed multiple complaints on similar grounds, prompting earlier High Court orders in 2016 and 2022 quashing FIRs arising from those filings. The present complaint included two additional respondents accused of issuing threats, but the court found no merit in the new charges.
The court also reserved the liberty for the petitioners to approach the Advocate General for initiating criminal contempt proceedings against Dr. Durgappa.
Named alongside Gopalakrishnan in the complaint were IISc faculty members Govindan Rangarajan, Sridhar Warrier, Sandya Vishwswaraih, Hari K V S, Dasappa, Balaram P, Hemalata Mhishi, Chattopadyaya K, Pradeep D Sawkar, and Manoharan, among others.
(With inputs from Live Law)
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