'Satire protected under Article 19': Karnataka HC quashes case against students over skit on Dalits

The Karnataka High Court has dismissed a criminal case filed under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act against seven students from a Bengaluru college, ruling that their skit was satirical and lacked intent to publicly humiliate members of the SC/ST community.

In its recent order, the court observed that the FIR had not been filed by a member of the SC/ST community and that there was no evidence to suggest that the students deliberately sought to insult or intimidate members of the Dalit community.

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Justice S R Krishna Kumar noted that the skit, performed during a college festival, fell under "satire/entertainment" and was protected by Article 19 of the Indian Constitution, which guarantees freedom of speech and expression.

Citing multiple Supreme Court judgments, the bench stated that allowing the case to continue would amount to an "abuse of process of law."

The case dates back to February 2023, when the Karnataka High Court had initially stayed the investigation against the students from Jain University's Centre for Management Studies.

Along with the students-aged 20 to 21-two faculty members, director Neelkant Borkar and assistant professor Praveen Thokdar, were also named in the case.

The controversy erupted after the students, part of the theatre group 'The Delroys Boys', performed a Mad Ads skit on the topic of reservation at a college event. A video of the performance went viral on social media, drawing criticism for allegedly containing derogatory remarks about Dr B R Ambedkar and Dalits.

Following this, Madhusudhan K N, an assistant director at the Social Welfare Department, lodged a complaint with Siddapura police on February 10, 2023. He argued that the skit, staged in a public setting and widely circulated online, warranted action under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

The students were also booked under IPC Sections 153A (promoting enmity between communities), 149 (unlawful assembly), and 295A (outraging religious sentiments).