The Karnataka High Court quashed the case registered against the two accused of Hosapet in Vijayanagar district, Karnataka under the provisions of the Karnataka Open Places (Prevention of Disfigurement) Act for allegedly painting school walls with 'Hijab is our dignity' in black paint, as the district was not brought under the said Act by issuing notification by the state government, as stated in a report by The New Indian Express.
Justice M Nagaprasanna quashed the case by allowing the petition filed by Muzammil (23) and Mohammad Jamaul (25), residents of Chitwadgi of Vijayanagar district. The court noted that for an incident to become an offence under Section 3 of the Act, the rigour of Section 1 of the Act will have to be noticed. Additionally, Section 1 directs that to bring a place or local area within the ambit of the Act, a notification from the hands of the state government is imperative. It is an admitted fact that Hosapet town is not the one that is notified to be coming within the Act.
With regard to this, further proceedings if permitted to continue would become an abuse of the process of law and result in a miscarriage of justice. Hence, the petition is allowed and the case is quashed, said the court. Following this, the accused persons were booked under Section 3 of the Act following the complaint filed by the headmaster of the Government Girls High School in Hosapet.
Adding more, the headmaster alleged that when all the students had left the school at about 5.45 pm on March 15, 2022, the walls were clean. But when he entered the school premises at 9 am the next day, the walls were painted with 'Hijab is our dignity' in black paint. Therefore, he registered the complaint with the local police who filed a charge sheet against the accused after the investigation.
The counsel of the petitioners contended that the offence under the Act could not have been laid against the petitioners, Vijaynagar is not one of those districts that have been notified to be coming under the Act, as is required in law, as stated in a report by The New Indian Express.
