HC stays investigation, court proceedings against Infosys co-founder Kris Gopalakrishnan
Bengaluru(PTI): Karnataka High Court has stayed the investigation and proceedings into an SC/ST atrocities case booked against Infosys co-founder Senapathy Kris Gopalakrishnan and 15 others.
Justice S R Krishna Kumar granted the stay on Wednesday.
"Accepting the reasons stated in the application duly filed along with memorandum of facts, I.A.No.1/2025 is allowed. Accordingly, production of original/certified copy of Annexure-CC is dispensed with for the present," the Court said.
"In the meanwhile, 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, Benglauru insofar as the petitioners are concerned, are hereby stayed till the next date of hearing," the court maintained.
Gopalakrishnan, along with 17 faculty members, was booked under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act following allegations by a former professor of Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Sanna Durgappa regarding incidents from 2010 to 2020.
Durgappa had alleged that he was framed in a fake honey trap case and he was abused with casteist remarks as he belongs to the tribal Bovi community.
The case was registered against the Infosys co-founder and 17 others on the directions of a court. In a statement regarding the case registered against him and the subsequent stay, 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 marginalized communities has been misused to make false allegations against me."
He further said he has been associated with IISc as Chairman of the Council since 2022, while the alleged incidents date back to 2014.
The IISc has clear policies for fair and transparent investigations, which are within the purview of the executive management, he added.
"Yesterday, the Hon’ble High Court of Karnataka stayed all further investigation and proceedings under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act against me and others. As the matter is before the Courts, I will not comment further. I have full faith in the judiciary and trust that justice will prevail," Kris Gopalakrishnan said.
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Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.
Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.
He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.
Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.
He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.
Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.
He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.
