HC quashes FIR against Infosys’ Kris Gopalakrishnan, IISc officials in caste discrimination case

The Karnataka High Court has quashed a criminal case registered against Infosys co-founder Kris Gopalakrishnan, former Indian Institute of Science Director Balaram P and 14 others under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Prevention of Atrocities Act, Bar and Bench reported on Monday.

Justice Hemant Chandangoudar, delivering the decision on April 16, described the complaint filed by former institute faculty member D Sanna Durgappa a “vexatious attempt to harass the petitioners” after he was sacked in 2015. The court held that the accusations were not offences under the anti-discrimination law and that the complaint abused the legal process.

Durgappa, a member of the Scheduled Caste community, was an assistant professor at the Indian Institute of Science’s Centre for Sustainable Technology. He alleged that the petitioners harassed him for his caste position, framed him for sexual harassment and terminated his employment without fair inquiry. He also claimed that two of the institute’s lawyers threatened him to resign and also tried to cancel his advocate’s licence.

The first information report, which has now been quashed, was registered by the Sadashiva Nagar police in Bengaluru on January 28 on the instruction of the City Civil and Sessions Court. The trial court’s direction came on a private complaint by Durgappa. At the time of...

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