JAIRAM RAMESH Vs. STATE OF KARNATAKA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioners are before this Court calling in question registration of a crime in Crime No.362 of 2022 for offence punishable under Sec. 63 of the Copyright Act, 1957 (hereinafter referred to as 'the Act' for short), Sec. 66 of the Information Technology Act, 2008 and Ss. 120B, 403, 465 and 34 of the IPC.

(2.) Facts adumbrated, as borne out from the pleadings, are as follows:-

(3.) The issue crops up with Bharat Jodo Yatra (hereinafter referred to as 'the Yatra' for short). The Yatra is claimed to be the brain child of the 3rd petitioner for it to be an ongoing mass movement which envisaged organization and mobilization of general public through a walk from Kanyakumari to Kashmir spanning over 3570 kilometers over a period of 150 days. Insofar as Karnataka State is concerned Yatra enters the State on 30/9/2022 and ends on 20/10/2022 at Raichur. The issue does not concern any happenings during the Yatra with regard to public peace or otherwise. The petitioners have also their several media handles such as Face book, Twitter etc. and have reached out to millions and millions through social media and claimed to be in the principal opposition at the Centre/Parliament.