Karnataka HC quashes FIR against Infosys co-founder Kris Gopalakrishnan and others
Bengaluru, Apr 28 (PTI): The Karnataka High Court has quashed an FIR registered against Infosys co-founder Kris Gopalakrishnan and others under the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.
The court termed the complaint "an abuse of the process of law" and granted liberty to initiate criminal contempt proceedings against the complainant.
Justice Hemant Chandangoudar, who passed the order on April 16, observed that the complaint was a "vexatious attempt to harass the petitioners."
The FIR was based on a private complaint filed by D Sanna Durgappa, a former faculty member of the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), who was terminated in 2014 following an internal inquiry into sexual harassment allegations.
He claimed that in 2014, he was falsely implicated in a honey trap case and subsequently dismissed from service. He further alleged that he was subjected to casteist abuse and threats.
The court noted that the termination was later converted into resignation, following a challenge before the High Court in 2015. As part of the settlement then, Durgappa had agreed to withdraw all complaints and legal proceedings against the institution and its representatives.
Despite this, he proceeded to file two more FIRs, both of which were quashed in 2022 and 2023. The present FIR, the court observed, contained similar allegations and was an abuse of judicial process.
Reacting to the judgement, Kris Gopalakrishnan said in statement, "I have full faith in our courts and the justice system. This judgment reaffirms that misuse of legal provisions has no place in a fair and just system. I am grateful that the Hon'ble High Court has seen through the falsehoods and upheld the truth."
The court further held that the allegations did not attract any offence under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, pointing out that the matter was essentially civil in nature, but had been wrongly given a criminal colour.
The court has also allowed Gopalakrishnan and other petitioners to approach the Advocate General for permission to initiate criminal contempt proceedings against Durgappa.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
High courts upheld only 8 per cent of death sentences; SC confirms none in recent years: Report
New Delhi (PTI): Highlighting that a high acquittal rate of death row convicts by the Supreme Court and high courts demonstrates a pattern of "erroneous or unjustified convictions", a study of 10 years of death penalty data has revealed that the top court did not confirm any death sentences in recent years.
The study by Square Circle Clinic, a criminal laws advocacy group with the NALSAR University of Law in Hyderabad, found that an overwhelming majority of death sentences imposed by trial courts did not withstand scrutiny at higher judicial levels. Acquittals far outnumbered confirmations at both the high courts and Supreme Court levels.
According to the report, the trial courts across India awarded 1,310 death sentences in 822 cases between 2016 and 2025. High courts considered 842 of these sentences in confirmation proceedings but upheld only 70 or 8.31 per cent.
In contrast, 258 death sentences (30.64 per cent) resulted in acquittals. The study noted that the acquittal rate at the high court level was nearly four times the confirmation rate.
Data showed that of the 70 death sentences confirmed by high courts, the Supreme Court decided 38 and did not uphold a single one. The apex court has confirmed no death sentences between 2023 and 2025.
"Wrongful or erroneous or unjustified convictions, then, are not random or freak accidents in the Indian criminal justice system. The data indicates they are a persistent and serious systemic concern," the report said.
Over the last decade, high courts adjudicated 1,085 death sentences in 647 cases, confirming only 106 (9.77 per cent). During this period, 326 persons in 191 cases, were acquitted.
The report attributed low confirmation rates to the appellate judiciary’s concerns regarding failures in due process. "This coincides with increased Supreme Court scrutiny of safeguards at the sentencing stage," the report said.
Of the 153 death sentences decided by the apex court over the last decade, the accused were acquitted in 38 cases. In 2025 alone, high courts overturned death sentences into acquittals in 22 out of 85 cases (over 25 per cent). The same year, Supreme Court acquitted accused persons in more than half of the death penalty cases it decided (10 out of 19), the report said.
The study highlighted that 364 persons who were ultimately acquitted "should not even have been convicted and unjustifiably suffered the trauma of death row". It added that such failures extend beyond adjudication and reflect serious lapses in investigation and prosecution.
The question of remedies for wrongful convictions remains pending before the Supreme Court. In September 2025, three persons acquitted by the apex court filed writ petitions seeking compensation from the state and argued that their wrongful convictions violated their fundamental right to life and liberty under Article 21 of the Constitution.
"In 2022, the Supreme Court crystallised a sentencing process in Manoj v. State of Madhya Pradesh , and mandated all courts to follow those guidelines before imposing or confirming a death sentence," the report read.
In 2025, the apex court held in Vasanta Sampat Dupare v. Union of India that death penalty sentencing hearings form part of the right to a fair trial and stressed that capital punishment can be imposed only after a constitutionally compliant sentencing process.
"However, even at the high courts whether the process mandated under Manoj is being complied with is in doubt,” the report said.
