HC Seeks Telangana Reply In FIR Over CM’s Photo
Counsel for the petitioner contended that the FIR was filed only to harass him and sought its quashing: Reports
HYDERABAD: The Telangana High Court on Monday directed the state government and the de facto complainant to file their responses in a petition seeking to quash an FIR registered against Kavali Venkatesh.
Justice J. Sreenivas Rao was hearing a quash petition filed by Venkatesh, against whom the Maddur police in Narayanpet district registered an FIR based on a complaint alleging that he had edited a photograph of Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy in an obscene and humiliating manner. The complaint alleged that the edited image was posted in a social media group titled “Telangana Public TV WhatsApp Group” and circulated across various social media platforms, thereby degrading the image of the Chief Minister.
Counsel for the petitioner contended that the FIR was filed only to harass him and sought its quashing. However, during the hearing, the judge observed that the Supreme Court had taken serious note of such acts in the past, underlining that victims have a fundamental right to object to them. The court further observed that the right to freedom of speech cannot be misused to dishonour others.
The court directed the state government and the de facto complainant, Goolla Narasimha, to place their submissions on record in response to the quash petition.