Delhi:In a landmark judgement today, supreme court bench comprising Justices G P Mathur and Dalveer Bhandari said, police do not require prior sanction of anybody in lodging an FIR or arresting a religious leader, if there is a complaint of proselytisation against him.
Supreme court ruling slammed Karnataka High court for abandoning the proceedings against a pastor on the saying that sanction of the Central government or of the state government or of the district magistrate had not been obtained prior to his arrest.
Incident happened in January 14 on a Makara Sankranthi day.Pastor Raju was alluring Hindu devotees attending a Sankranthi pooja at Ramapura asking the people to convert to Christianity and promising many benefits and facilities not available to them in the Hindu religion.A case was filed against him, but Karnataka High court dismissed the case pointing the absence of prior sanction from higher authorities before the arrest.
No law prevents police from registering a criminal case or investigation or submission of a chargesheet against the accused in such cases and no sanction is needed from from the Central government, state government or the district magistrate in these cases.
Haindavakeralam appreciates Karnataka Government for fighting this case upto Supreme court which resulted in this grand Judgement.
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