Karnataka High Court Stays FIR Against X User Booked For Reposting 'Fake' Video On State Energy Minister KJ George

The Karnataka High Court on Wednesday (April 22) stayed proceedings in an FIR against a man accused of reposting a "fabricated video" on X (formerly Twitter) allegedly depicting State Energy Minister K.J. George and a BESCOM officer exploring options to procure additional power units from Telangana. The petitioner, who belongs to Telangana, has claimed that he took down the video within 12 hours of posting, upon realising it may not have been genuine.The single judge bench of Justice M Nagaprasanna also took note of the objections filed by the counsel appearing for the BESCOM General Manager Manjunath CN, who is the complainant/ Respondent no. 2 in the matter. “List after vacation, objections already filed by R2, there will be an interim order of stay qua the petitioner till the next date of hearing. The petitioner submits that upon receiving the knowledge of the appropriate facts, the said post has been taken down by him”, said the Court.During the hearing, the petitioner Ravikanth Samrat submitted that the video was uploaded by another person and not him. “I am from Telangana. I pulled the tweet down within 12 hours when I came to know it was not genuine. I thought I was sharing genuine information…”, he said about the video, which was uploaded in November 2023. Meanwhile the BESCOM General Manager informed the court that the accused/petitioner was spreading false information about the Karnataka Gruha Jyothi Scheme by sharing a falsified, AI generated video clip wherein the Minister and the Manager are seen discussing about a power crisis in Karnataka and the need to procure more power units from Telangana.The counsel for the Manager also added that the petitioner describes himself as a 'social media fact checker'.“And spreading wrong information?….You check facts like this? We will have to check your facts now...we will ask the police to investigate and check your facts now”, the court orally told Petitioner. Samrat said that he had no scandalous intentions and he had voluntarily taken down the post upon realising that it was not genuine.The Manager had lodged a complaint based on which an FIR was registered against Samrat for offences under Section 66, IT Act (dishonestly/fraudulently doing an act punishable under IPC), Section 66C, IT Act (Identity theft, fraudulent use of electronic signatures, passwords or unique identification features), Section 153, IPC (Wantonly giving provocation with intent to cause riot) and Section 507, IPC (Criminal intimidation by anonymous communication).Samrat approached the High Court for quashing the FIR and chargesheet filed in the pending criminal proceedings against him.Case Title: Ravikant Samrat v. State of Karnataka & Anr.Case No.: WP No 34333/ 2025

Karnataka High Court Stays FIR Against X User Booked For Reposting 'Fake' Video On State Energy Minister KJ George

Sebin James

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