Karnataka HC stays probe in SC/ST atrocity case filed against Bengaluru students over skit

Certain portions of the skit, performed on the theme of reservation, were viewed as derogatory in their references to Dr B R Ambedkar and Dalits.

By: Express News Service

New Delhi | Updated: July 19, 2023 08:15 PM IST

2 min read

A single-judge bench granted the stay while hearing a plea filed by the 20-year-old students for quashing the police case. (File)

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The Karnataka High Court on Wednesday stayed investigations in a case filed under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act against seven students of Bengaluru’s Jain University over a skit they staged at a college festival in February.

A single-judge bench granted the stay while hearing a plea filed by the 20-year-old students for quashing the police case. The bench was told that the students faced the prospect of being rusticated because of the case.

The case was registered on a complaint filed by an assistant director of the social welfare department, Madhusudhan K N, on February 10 with the Siddapura police in south Bengaluru. The students, who were part of a college theatre group called The Delroys Boys, performed a Mad-ads skit on the theme of reservation at the festival.

A video of the skit went viral on social media and certain portions of it were viewed as derogatory in their references to Dr B R Ambedkar and Dalits. Madhusudhan told police that the case would attract charges under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act since the skit was staged in public and its video was shared on social media.

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Karnataka High Court SC and ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act