The High Court of Karnataka on Thursday stayed till March 12 the notice issued by Ballari police asking Sameer M.D., operator of YouTube Channel in Kannada called “Dhoota: Sameer MD”, to appear for investigation in connection with a First Information Report (FIR) registered based on the contents in a video titled “Dharmasthala Soujanya case”, posted on his channel about a week ago.
Justice M. Nagaprasanna passed the interim order on a petition filed by 25-year-old Sameer after noticing that the police had not provided the copy of the FIR along with the notice served to him on March 5 asking him to appear for the investigation on March 6.
The court pointed out that providing a copy of the FIR is mandatory along with the notice as per the direction of the court, which was enforced by the State by issuing a circular on December 30, 2024.
The Cowlbazar Police in Ballari suo motu had registered the FIR on March 5 under Section 299 (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. It has been complained in the FIR that the contents of video has several averments about Dharmasthala and the members of the family, which manages the temple, affecting religious feelings of people at large.
However, the petitioner has claimed that the video does not contain any copyrighted material, defamatory content or hate speech against any individual or religion but contains only details of judgments passed by the courts in the 2012 Soujanya murder case, public sentiments and concerns about inadequacies in the investigation of the murder case.
It has been alleged in the petition that police tried to arrest him on the night of March 5 but due to intervention of his advocates they served him notice asking to appear for recording his statement. He is arraigned as an accused in the FIR.
Published – March 06, 2025 10:48 pm IST
