Troll Maga row: Karnataka high court quashes FIR against Jaikanth
The Karnataka high court has fined the state police for arresting the admin of the Facebook page - Troll Maga. S Jaikanth was arrested for a post against the JD(S) party chief HD Deve Gowda, Kumaraswamy and his son Nikhil Kumaraswamy.
FollowBengaluru: The Karnataka high court has come down heavily on the state police for arresting S Jaikanth - the alleged admin of a troll page - Troll Maga. Jaikanth was arrested for allegedly posting against JD(S) chief HD Deve Gowda, Kumaraswamy and Nikhil Kumaraswamy.
Reportedly, the Karnataka HC has also imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh that the police officers would pay for the arrest of Jaikanth.
The Karnataka HC has directed the director-general of police and inspector general of Karnataka police to conduct an inquiry against the police officers responsible for the arrest of Jaikanth.
The high court also ordered departmental action against the Magistrate who remanded the accused in violation of SC guidelines.
Jaikanth was remanded despite being granted anticipatory bail by a lower court. The court also directed that the compensation should be provided to petitioner S Jaikanth within a month.
‘Troll Maga’ was accused of posting abusive and insulting posts against former PM and JD(S) supremo Deve Gowda, Kumaraswamy, who was the chief minister at the time and Nikhil Kumaraswamy.
Jaikanth had obtained anticipatory bail from a lower court and had gone to Srirampuram police station to submit the bail. However, the Karnataka police had arrested Jaikanth, an engineer by profession, in the second complaint on the same set of facts as mentioned in the first complaint in May.
However, when Asianet Newsable contacted S Jaikanth, he claimed that neither is he the admin of the page nor was he a part of the troll page.
“This is nothing but misuse of power by the former Karnataka government. I have done nothing, but they wanted to malign my image. Even the police knew of my innocence. I will file a defamation case against them for ruining my reputation,” said Jaikanth.
However, on June 28, 2019, the Karnataka High Court had directed the immediate release of the administrator of the Facebook page ‘Troll Maga’ and has stayed the criminal proceeding against the admin till July 11. The HC had then termed the police act as ‘police-raj’ and stayed the proceedings.
