Karnataka High Court Grants Bail To Followers Of Actor Darshan Booked For Harassing Actress Ramya On Instagram

The Karnataka High Court has granted bail to five persons who are stated to be followers of actor Darshan, arrested for allegedly sending sexually coloured remarks, offensive and threatening messages to former MP and actress Ramya on Instagram.

The court further granted anticipatory bail to one Vikas B A. 

The actress on July 28, had filed a complaint giving details of 43 accounts from which she faced harassment. She had claimed that many of the messages were from fans of Darshan. The alleged messages were sent after she shared an article on Supreme Court proceedings in the Renukaswamy murder case, in which actor Darshan is the second accused and is presently in custody.

Justice Shivashankar Amarannavar granted bail to Pramodh K, Manjunath, Rajesh C Y, Obanna T, Chinmay Shetty. The court has directed them to execute a personal bond for a sum of Rs.1,00,000 each with one surety for the like sum to the satisfaction of the jurisdictional court.

The accused have been charged under Sections 67, 66(C) of Information Technology Act, 2000, Sections 351(2)(criminal intimidation), 351(3), 352((Intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace), 75(1)(iv)(man making sexually coloured remarks is guilty of sexual harassment), 79 (Word, gesture or act intended to insult modesty of a woman) of BNS.

"All the petitioners are having Instagram account in their names. It is alleged that they sent message to the first informant containing vulgar language, threat etc., by using account standing in their names. The offences alleged against the petitioners under Sections 351(2), 351(3), 352, 79 of BNS and Section 67, 66(C) of Information Technology Act are bailable offences and punishment provided for those offences is less than 7 years. So only offence defined in Section 75(1)(iv) of BNS is non-bailable offence and the punishment provided for the said offence is imprisonment for one year. The said offence is making coloured sexual remarks. The said coloured sexual remarks is alleged to have been made by the petitioners by using their Instagram account through phones. The phones of accused persons have been seized and sent to FSL for examination. Considering the same, the custodial interrogation of petitioners is not required".

The court noted that the Additional SPP had submitted that charge sheet has been filed and so considering the same the presence of these petitioners is not required for investigation.

"Considering the above aspects, the petitioners are young aged between 18 to 25 years have made out ground for grant of bail/anticipatory bail," the court said. 

The court has directed Vikas to execute a personal bond for a sum of Rs.1,00,000, with one surety for the like sum to the satisfaction of IO/jurisdictional Court within two weeks.

It was argued by the petitioners that offences under Section 351(2), 351(3), 352, 79 of BNS are bailable and Section 67 and 66(C) of Information Technology Act, 2000 are also bailable. It was argued that only one offence which is non-bailable is Section 75(1)(iv) of BNS and that is punishable with imprisonment for one year. 

It was argued that the petitioners are young boys and they are followers of Actor Darshan. As the offence has taken place through an online account, there is no question of any tampering with the investigation.

Further, it was said that a major portion of the investigation is already completed. As the complainant is a powerful person and there is no question of any threat or threat by the petitioners.

The prosecution opposed the pleas contending that the first informant is a former MP and considering the same, question arises whether the matter requires to be referred to the Special Bench.

It was argued that in the messages sent by the petitioners to the first informant, there are serious allegations of threat to commit murder and rape. There are chances of the petitioners tampering with prosecution witnesses and threatening the first informant, it was contended.

Case Title: Pramodh K AND State of Karnataka and batch

Appearance: Advocates Girish R, Satyanarayan Chalke, Sharath S Gowda, for Petitioners.

SPP Pushpalatha B for R1.

Advocate Shesha Karthik Reddy For complainant.

Citation No: 2025 LiveLaw (Kar) 340

Case No: CRIMINAL PETITION NO. 12940 OF 2025 C/W CRIMINAL PETITION NO. 12867 OF 2025 CRIMINAL PETITION NO. 12917 OF 2025 CRIMINAL PETITION NO. 12936 OF 2025 CRIMINAL PETITION NO. 12944 OF 2025 CRIMINAL PETITION NO. 13166 OF 2025.

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