Karnataka HC stays caste discrimination probe against Infosys co-founder Kris Gopalakrishnan
The complainant says he was unfairly dismissed from the Bengaluru IISc, where Kris Gopalakrishnan is a member of the Board of Trustees, after being falsely implicated in a honeytrap case.
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Gopalakrishnan and 17 others were booked on Monday following a court direction. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)The Karnataka High Court has issued an interim stay on the case filed against Kris Gopalakrishnan under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act following a complaint from a former assistant professor of the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, where the Infosys co-founder sits on the Board of Trustees.
Gopalakrishnan and 17 others were booked on Monday following a court direction. In his complaint, Sanna Durgappa said he was unfairly dismissed from the IISc’s Centre for Sustainable Technology after being falsely implicated in a honeytrap case. He also said that he faced caste-based threats and abuse.
A bench of Justice S R Krishna Kumar, which heard the matter on Wednesday, ordered, “Accepting the reasons stated in the application duly filed along with memorandum of facts… all further proceedings/investigation in crime number 17/2025 of Sadashivanagara police station and all further proceedings in PCR Number 1/2025 on the file of LXX Additional City Civil and Sessions Judge and Special Judge, Bengaluru insofar as the petitioners are concerned, are hereby stayed till the next date of hearing.”
An SC/ST committee of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly released a report in 2017 stating that Durgappa was singled out for being a Dalit. He has also said that he met the IISc director in 2017 and 2020 as he was supposed to be reinstated but he faced threats of police complaints.
In a statement issued on Thursday, the Infosys co-founder said, “I have always believed in fairness, justice, and treating everyone with respect, regardless of their background. I am deeply saddened that a law meant to protect marginalised communities has been misused to make false allegations against me.”
Gopalakrishnan added that he has been associated with IISc as chairman of the IISc’s council since 2022, while the alleged incidents date back to 2014.
(With PTI inputs)
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