The Supreme Court has stayed proceedings in a criminal defamation case filed by Karnataka cadre IAS officer Rohini Sindhuri against state IPS officer D Roopa after the IPS officer gave an undertaking that she has deleted all social media posts against Sindhuri.
On December 15, the Supreme Court took the affidavit filed by D Roopa on record, and ruled that the “criminal case subject matter of this petition will not proceed further”.
The Supreme Court also barred 2009-batch IAS officer Rohini Sindhuri and 2000-batch IPS officer D Roopa from making public statements on the case. “Considering the fact that we are making an attempt to resolve all the disputes pending between the parties, none of them shall give any interview or any information to the media, social and print, in any form,” said the top court.
The Supreme Court also adjourned the case to January 12, 2024.
A day after the Supreme Court asked Roopa to provide an undertaking on the deletion of the controversial posts or to express regret as a means for resolution of the matter, the IPS officer filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court on December 15.
In her affidavit filed in the course of a Special Leave Petition against the criminal defamation case filed by Sindhuri, Roopa stated that she had deleted all her social media posts against the IAS officer.
“That, though the Respondent had objected to only some specific posts of mine in her complaint, in due deference to the observations of this Hon’ble Court I have taken down all the posts with respect to the respondent,” Roopa said in her affidavit.
In August this year, the Karnataka High Court had refused to quash the defamation case lodged by Sindhuri against Roopa. A single-judge bench of Justice Sachin Shankar Magadum rejected a plea by the IPS officer who then approached the Supreme Court.
In her defamation complaint, Rohini Sindhuri had alleged that D Roopa shared photos, made allegations on social media, and made statements in the media questioning her personal and professional conduct to tarnish her before the public and colleagues. The case was filed under Section 500 (defamation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), seeking damages of Rs 1 crore.
In the August 21 judgment, the Karnataka High Court had said, “If the statements posted on a private account as well as the statements made before the print media are examined, I am more than satisfied that the petitioner/accused is bound to face a criminal trial. The question as to whether the posts made on a Facebook account and the statements made before the print media fall under exceptions is a matter of trial”.
Nearly seven months after their public spat created controversy, the Karnataka government have new postings to Sindhuri and Roopa in September this year.
While Sindhuri was posted as the chief editor of the Karnataka Gazetteer Department, Roopa was given the charge of the Inspector General of Police in the Internal Security Department.
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