The Karnataka High Court, on October 8, 2025, granted bail to several young petitioners accused of sending online threats to former Member of Parliament and actress Ramya. Justice Shivashankar Amarannavar observed that the petitioners, aged between 18 and 25 years, had made out a valid case for the grant of bail and anticipatory bail.
The case arose when an FIR was lodged by a former MP popular actress Ramya alleging that the petitioners had sent obscene, abusive and threatening messages including threats of murder and rape on Instagram using accounts registered under different names. The counsel for the petitioners contended that all the Section 351(2), 351(3), 352, 79 of BNS and Section 67 and 66(C) of Information Technology Act, 2000 under which the petitioner was booked was bailable except Section 75(1)(iv) of BNS which cited imprisonment for one year only. They further argued that since the offences were committed online, custodial interrogation was unnecessary and the petitioners being young students and followers of actor Darshan, posed no threat to the complainant. It was also submitted that their mobile phones had already been seized and sent for forensic examination, and hence further custody was unwarranted.The respondent opposed the petitions considering the gravity of the allegation, possibility of witness intimidation and sensitive status of the complainant as a former MP and popular actress.
The Court examined the case materials and stated that since the mobile phones had been seized, chargesheets had been filed and no further custodial interrogation was necessary, continued detention of the petitioners would not be justified. Accordingly, the petitioners were granted bail and anticipatory bail upon directions that petitioners Nos. 1, 2, 3, 6, 7 and11 shall execute personal bond for 1 lakh each with one surety for the like sum to the jurisdictional court, another petitioner would execute a personal bond of Rs 1 lakh each with one surety of the like sum to be submitted to the I.O/ jurisdictional Court within two weeks, and all of them would refrain from threatening witnesses and co-operate accordingly with the investigation and court proceedings.
Appearances:
For the Petitioners: Sri Girish R., Advocate (for petitionerNos. 3, 6, 7, 1 & 2) Sri Satyanarayan Chalke, Advocate (for petitioner in Crl.P. No. 12867/2025 – anticipatory bail),Sri Sharath S. Gowda, Advocate (for petitioner No. 11)
For the Respondent-State: Smt. Pushpalatha B., Additional State Public Prosecutor
For the De-facto Complainant: Sri Shesha Karthik Reddy, Advocate
