On the 17th of December, the Karnataka High Court quashed the FIR and all related criminal proceedings against a man who made ‘Vote For Modi’ appeal in his wedding cards. Justice M Nagaprasanna ruled in favour of Shivaprasad, a resident of Dakshina Kannada district. The High Court also dismissed proceedings against Balakrishna A, the owner of the printing agency over the printing of wedding cards of Shivaprasad.
For those unversed, ahead of the Lok Sabha elections 2024, Shivaprasad made an appeal on his wedding card with message asking his acquintances to vote for Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
On November 11, the Court had granted an interim stay on the FIR. At the time, Justice Nagaprasanna had remarked, “The petitioners are accused of a peculiar offense. The first petitioner prints his own wedding invitation and includes a postscript reading, ‘The gift that you would give me for my marriage is voting for Narendra Modi.’ This is alleged to violate Section 127A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951.”
Shivaprasad was charged under Section 188 (disobedience to a public servant’s order) of the Indian Penal Code and Section 127A of the Representation of the People Act. The FIR was filed after election officer Sandesh KN filed a complaint, alleging that the message breached the election code of conduct.
In his defense, Shivaprasad argued that his wedding invitations were printed on March 1, well before the election code of conduct came into effect on March 16, when the Election Commission announced the timeline for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
His counsel, Advocate Vinod Kumar, further contended that the Representation of the People Act applies only when the code of conduct is in force and claimed that the Magistrate had failed to adhere to the procedures outlined in the Code of Criminal Procedure. Thus, he argued, the FIR was “invalid in law.” Consequently, the Karnataka HC on Tuesday quashed the FIR against him.
