Overview
- The Karnataka High Court issued an interim stay on the May 27 government order on Thursday, July 2, 2026, and barred public prosecutors from acting on the directive until further hearing.
- The petition was filed by advocate Girish Bharadwaj, and the Division Bench of Chief Justice Vibhu Bakhru and Justice K.S. Hemalekha said the state’s use of Section 321 of the Criminal Procedure Code showed prima facie faults.
- The May order instructed withdrawal in 52 cases, including seven related to the 2022 Aland Ladle Mashak Dargah violence and several matters involving Kannada and Dalit activists such as ten cases against Vatal Nagaraj.
- Court records and the petition say the Directorate of Prosecution and police repeatedly advised against withdrawal, but a cabinet sub-committee approved the list; the bench has given the state two weeks to file its objections and listed the matter for July 27, 2026.
- The ruling revives a legal dispute over prosecutorial independence after the High Court in 2025 quashed a similar executive withdrawal order, and the outcome could shape how governments can direct public prosecutors and affect police morale and public-order accountability.