Karnataka HC quashes FIR against BJP MP Tejasvi Surya over sharing fake news

Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], December 12 (ANI): The Karnataka High Court Thursday quashed a first information report (FIR) registered by the Karnataka High Court against Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Tejasvi Surya in an alleged case of spreading fake news regarding the suicide of a farmer in Haveri district in the state.
Justice M Nagaprasanna passed the order on a plea by Surya seeking to quash the FIR.
On November 8 this year, Surya had posted on his X handle that a farmer in the State had committed suicide after his land was taken over by the Waqf board.
"A farmer in Haveri commits suicide after finding his land taken over by Waqf! In their haste to appease minorities, CM Siddaramaiah and Minister BZ Zameer Ahmed Khan have unleashed catastrophic effects in Karnataka that are becoming impossible to contain with every passing day," his post read.
He had also posted links to a news story from a local portal that made such claim.
The police subsequently issued a clarification saying the farmer died by suicide due to mounting debts. Surya was then booked by Haveri Cybercrime, Economic and Narcotic Offences Police, for spreading fake news under Section 353(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
According to the FIR, Surya had stated that a farmer, identified as Rudrappa Channappa Balikai, died by suicide after finding that his land was "taken over by Waqf."
Surya also blamed Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Minister BZ Zameer Ahmed Khan, accusing them of causing "catastrophic effects in Karnataka" in a post on X. This post has since been deleted.
Earlier, responding to an FIR filed against him, Tejasvi Surya had said that the Karnataka Congress government is attempting to "silence all those who are trying to expose the atrocities of the Waqf Board. (ANI)