'Whimsical Matters' Karnataka High Court Rejects PIL For Enquiry Into Delay In Probe Over Mahatma Gandhi's Assassination, Imposes ₹10K Cost

The Karnataka High Court on Monday (June 8) dismissed a PIL seeking directions to Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and others regarding an allegedly "missing volume" of Mahatma Gandhi's autobiography and "17-year-old delayed probe" into his assassination in 1948.

The Division Bench of Chief Justice Vibhu Bakhru and Justice K.S Hemalekha orally remarked that "There is no national interest or public interest..Judicial time cannot be used for whimsical matters”, while dismissing the plea by 'Jagrutha Karnataka, Jagrutha Bharatha' with Rs 10,000/- cost, payable to the Legal Services Authority.

“…. As noted above, the petitioner earlier filed a similar petition…which was dismissed on 28 August 2025. We find that the present petition is an exercise in procuring publicity rather than seeking a relief in public interest. Therefore, we are not persuaded to entertain the same….”, the court accordingly noted in the order.

The petitioner association, which was represented by its President K N Manjunatha in person, sought inquiry into 17-year delay in constituting a judicial commission to probe the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi, an enquiry into a missing volume no.2 of his autobiography, and his 1947 letter to British Viceroy which allegedly considered armed conflict as on option to prevent partition of India, among other prayers.

The other aspects pertaining to which directions were sought for in the petition are:

1. Formation of a Joint Parliamentary Committee to inquire why the Government of India did not institute a judicial inquiry commission into Mahatma Gandhi's assassination for 17 years until 1965, and the reason behind the institution of judicial inquiry in 1965.
2. A search for the missing Volume 2 of Mahatma Gandhi's autobiography, the draft papers of which are supposedly available in one of 51 boxes of documents allegedly "illegally shifted out" from the Nehru Museum in 2008, as per a statement of the Government of India in Parliament on December 17, 2025;
3. Inquiry into Mahatma Gandhi's letter dated December 30, 1947, to the UNO, which the petitioner claimed was "misplaced or replaced" by another letter dated January 1, 1948, on the Kashmir issue.

The petitioner had also filed an interim prayer seeking directions to the respondents to file replies to his representations dated November 13, 2025, March 13, 2026, and March 25, 2026.

While dismissing the plea today, the Bench noted that this was the second petition filed by the same petitioner. Upon inquiry, it was revealed that the petitioner had earlier filed a PIL alleging that a volume of Mahatma Gandhi's autobiography was missing and seeking directions for certain queries to be answered since the said volume covers Indian history between 1926-1947. The aforesaid petition was dismissed on August 28, 2025.

The Court further recorded that the petitioner's allegations and prayers were not substantiated by 'sufficient material', as was the case in the previous PIL too.

A high court had earlier dismissed the earlier PIL, holding that the request was "vague" and that no such judicial relief could be granted. The court had observed that if the petitioner wished to pursue historical research, there were no legal barriers preventing him from doing so, but the Court could not order disclosure of non-existent or unverified documents.

The cost imposed ought to be paid to the Karnataka Legal Services Authority within 2 weeks, the court concluded.

Case Title: Jagrutha Karnataka, Jagrutha Bharatha v. State of Karnataka & Ors.

Case No: WP 12170/2026