HC quashes FIR against BJP MP over farmer suicide post

Bengaluru: The High Court has set aside an FIR filed against BJP Yuva Morcha presi-dent and Bengaluru South MP Tejasvi Surya. The FIR, registered by the Haveri police under 353(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), was based on a social media post Surya made concerning a farmer's suicide, which he linked to alleged Waqf Board land claims. The petition, filed by Surya, argued that the FIR was baseless and politically motivated.

Following detailed hearings, Justice M Nagaprasanna's bench quashed the case after earlier granting an interim stay on proceedings. Senior advocate Aruna Shyam, representing Surya, informed the court that the MP's post on the social media platform 'X' (formerly Twitter) was made after the de-ceased farmer's father highlighted grievances related to land disputes in-volving the Karnataka Waqf Board. Surya's post alleged that the suicide was connected to the board's land claims.

However, Haveri Superintendent of Police Anshu Kumar later clarified that the farmer, Rudrappa, who died by suicide in January 2022, had done so due to crop losses and loans, not due to Waqf-related issues. Following this clarification, Surya deleted the post.

The counsel noted that Surya, as a member of the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024, had visited farmers in Vijayapura alongside JPC Chairman Jagdambika Pal. The visit brought attention to issues faced by farmers in Karnataka due to Waqf-related land claims, which Surya highlighted in his now-deleted post, Surya's advocate said.