Karnataka High Court Stays FIR Against Alleged Cow Vigilantes Accused Of Using Castesist Slurs Against Dalit Association President

The vacation bench of Justice KV Aravind has sought responses from the Police as well as the complainant in the matter. 

The matter will be heard next in the second week of June.

The petitioner is also the accused in the 2023 murder of Idrees Pasha, a cattle trader who was found dead with burn marks after allegedly being apprehended by Kerehalli and others. The other accused person in the caste abuse case, Gopi Gowda, who is allegedly an associate of Kerehalli.

Before the High Court, the two accused has sought the quashing of an FIR registered against them under Sections 3(1)(r) and 3(1)(s) of the SC/ST Act and Sections 115(2), 189(2), 190, 191(2), 299, 351(2) and 352 of the BNS by the Masti Police at Kolar on May 15.

The complainant, M V Nagaraj, who is stated to be President of a Dalit Association, is claimed to have intervened when the petitioners were creating a ruckus in one of the meat shops near Kolar, which had allegedly indulged in cattle slaughter. At this juncture, as per the FIR, the petitioners allegedly abused Nagaraj with casteist slurs, attempted to assault him and tear down his clothes.

The petitioners in their plea seeking quashing of the FIR have argued that the allegations are wholly false, frivolous and politically and personally motivated, and the complaint was merely a counterblast attempt to silence the petitioners' lawful protest against the illegal cow slaughter for meat.

The plea states that the petitioners reached the spot of the incident upon receiving information that a nearby slaughterhouse owned by one Saddham Khan had been killing oxen and cows for profit. According to the petitioners, after duly informing the police, they were merely trying to prevent the breach of the Karnataka Prevention of Slaughter and Preservation of Cattle Act, 2020, which has banned the slaughter of cows in the state.

The petitioners also added that the mobile recorded videos and live-streamed bits of the alleged incident are readily available on social media. None of these videos shows the petitioners uttering casteist slurs against the complainant or assaulting him, the plea further states.

When they were only lawfully raising their objection against cattle slaughter without any casteist intent, the invocation of the SC/ST Act is a clear abuse of the process of law, the plea states.

The petitioners further argue that the fact that the complainant voluntarily intervened in an ongoing dispute relating to cattle slaughter, and disclosed his position as President of a Dalit Association, cannot automatically convert the dispute into an SC/ST Act offence.

Case Title: Punith Kumar @ Punith Kerahalli & Anr v. State of Karntaka

Case No: CRL.P 7261/2026