Acting on a private complaint filed by an advocate, the 8th Additional City Metropolitan Magistrate Court on Monday directed the Vidhana Soudha police to investigate the recent incident where some BJP Ministers (who have since resigned) were seen viewing pornographic clips inside the Assembly hall. The court asked the police to submit its findings by February 27.
Dharmapal Gowda, a senior advocate, filed the complaint and requested the court to direct the authorities to investigate it. Mr. Gowda stated that Laxman Savadi, C.C. Patil and J. Krishna Palemar viewed pornographic clips on a mobile phone inside the Assembly when the session was in progress.
The police can book a case against the three former Ministers in the Bharatiya Janata Party Government for watching blue films under Sections 292 (Sale, etc., of obscene books, etc.) and 294 (Obscene acts and songs) of the Indian Penal Code and under certain provisions of the Information Technology Act, 2000. However, so far the police had not registered any complaint against the three, Mr. Gowda stated in his complaint.
No FIR yet
“So far we have not registered any first information report on the issue,” Devaraju, Assistant Commissioner of Police (Cubbon Park subdivision), told The Hindu .
“We received a copy of the order from the 8th ACMM court on Monday evening and we will look into the matter,” he said.
Another police official said, “The police will register an FIR after consulting the City Police Commissioner and legal advisers.”
Seek more time
Meanwhile, Mr. Savadi, Mr. Patil and Mr. Palemar have sought a week's time to reply to show-cause notices issued to them.
Monday (February 13) was the deadline for their reply.
Official sources in the Assembly Secretariat on Monday said that the Speaker, who was not in Bangalore, would arrive on Tuesday and take a decision on the plea for more time.
