Overview
- A special Bengaluru court on June 27 took cognisance of a criminal defamation complaint under Section 356 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita against Karnataka minister Priyank Kharge and Mohammed Haris Nalapad.
- The court dropped proceedings against former minister Dinesh Gundu Rao after finding the material against him was insufficient at the preliminary stage.
- Judge Sandeep Patil rejected Kharge’s argument that an RSS member lacks locus standi because the RSS is not registered and called that contention untenable.
- The ruling relied on Section 2(26) of the BNS, which defines “person” to include unincorporated bodies, and on past precedent treating the RSS as an identifiable group, while saying membership and truth of the statements must be proved at trial.
- Summons were issued to Kharge and Nalapad returnable on July 21, and the court warned the accused cannot both invoke RSS members to justify remarks and deny their existence to defeat the complaint.