CM Siddaramaiah's Remarks Against RSS Do Not Amount To Defamation Or Hurting Religious Sentiments : Bengaluru Court

A Court in Bengaluru dismissed a criminal complaint lodged against Chief Minister Siddaramaiah alleging offences of defamation and hurting of religious sentiments for his alleged remarks made in the Legislative Assembly that RSS & Bajrang Dal are the ones who commit more crimes.Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate K.N.Shivakumar dismissed the complaint filed by one Kiran N ,a practising advocate, who claimed to be associated with the RSS. The court said “On careful consideration of the alleged statements made by the accused and the allegations made in the complaint and also the publications in News agencies about alleged statement made by the accused, as already discussed herein above, the accused in the course of his reply to the motion of thanks to the Hon'ble Governor and in the course of brushing aside the opposition's allegations with regard to maintenance of law & order in his governance and in the context of the discussion on the subjects of law enforcement & public order, made said statement. As such, no such intention as to harm the reputation or dignity of said RSS organization could be drawn from such a statement.” It added “The allegations of the complaint as well as the documents annexed to it, would not prima-facie satisfy the ingredients of alleged offences P/U/Sec.299, 352 & 356(2) of BNS, 2023 and as such do not make out any case for taking cognizance of said offences as against the accused.” As per the complaint dated 17/03/2025 at Vidhana Soudha, Bengaluru, Siddaramiah had said that RSS & Bajrang Dal were the perpetrators of crime in the state. The complainant claimed that the alleged statement made by the accused about the RSS & Bajrang Dal not only hurt the complainant's sentiments, but also portrayed "divine RSS as a crime organization and its volunteers as criminals". The CM opposed the plea by stating that the comments made in the floor of the House are protected by the legislative privilege under Article 194(2) of the Constitution of India and as such there is an overarching constitutional bar for this complaint. Hence, the complaint was not maintainable. Further, the alleged statement was against RSS organization and as such under the law, except the said organization, nobody can lodge complaint against the accused. It was argued that the present complainant is neither the authorized person nor the aggrieved person to file the complaint.It was claimed that the words used in the alleged statement, if read in the context they were used, do not amount to any such imputation as to constitute the ingredients of defamatio. It was claimed that the CM's statement is nothing but the reflection of his view point as a CM of the state on the security challenges posed by certain organizations.The Court on going through the records said “It appears that said speech made by the accused had clear nexus with the governance issue that was being debated in the said session. As such, said speech appears to be squarely within the sphere of proceedings in the legislature and as such covered within the ambit of the immunity or privilege under Article 194(2) of the Constitution of India.”Referring to a news article published in the Hindu News the court said:"...opposition party leader Sri. R. Ashok himself makes a statement at the same time in the session saying “let the Chief Minister say these things against the RSS in public, if he has courage, instead of making such allegations within the shelter of house”, which clearly demonstrate that the accused was making alleged statement in the Legislative Assembly because of such immunity. Therefore, as rightly argued by the defence counsel the alleged statement made by the accused being the Chief Minister of the State in the Legislative Assembly during his reply to the Motion of thanks moved in the Joint session of both the houses to the address delivered by his excellency Hon'ble Governor of the state about the Governance of the state and in the course of discussion on the subject of maintenance of law & order and law enforcement, appears to be within the sphere of proceedings of the Legislature and intrinsic part of a legislative debate and as such it is aptly covered by the privilege or immunity as provided under Article 194(2) of the Constitution of India". The court further referred to Section 299 BNS (Deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) invoked against the CM. It observed that the section is clear wherein it states that to attract offence, there must a deliberate & malicious act on the part of the accused & such act should be with the intention of insulting the religion or the religious belief of any class of citizens of India. However the court said, the content of alleged speech made by the accused "would not touch upon any religion or religious belief at all"."Further, said RSS organization is admittedly not a religious organization and said ...

CM Siddaramaiah's Remarks Against RSS Do Not Amount To Defamation Or Hurting Religious Sentiments : Bengaluru Court

Mustafa Plumber

The Court said that comments against RSS will not amount to comments against any religion.

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