Karnataka HC stays probe against Infosys co-founder Kris Gopalakrishnan in caste discrimination case

The Karnataka High Court on Wednesday stayed the investigation and legal proceedings against Infosys co-founder Kris Gopalakrishnan and 15 others under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Prevention of Atrocities Act, PTI reported.

A single-judge bench of Justice SR Krishna Kumar passed the order on an interlocutory application filed by the persons accused in the matter.

On Monday, the Bengaluru Police filed the first information report at the Sadashivnagar Police Station against Gopalakrishnan and 17 other faculty and administrative members of the Indian Institute of Science under the Act as per a directive of the 71st City Civil and Sessions Court.

The case was based on a complaint by a former faculty member of the institute, D Sanna Durgappa.

Durgappa alleged that the persons accused in the matter subjected him to casteist abuse and wrongfully dismissed him from his position at the institute’s Centre for Sustainable Technology in 2014 based on false claims of sexual harassment.

Durgappa, who belongs to the Bovi community, claimed that he faced discrimination after requesting funding for a separate laboratory and sitting area under the Scheduled Caste Sub-Plan and Tribal Sub-Plan.

The Bovi community is classified as a Scheduled Caste.

The complainant alleged that Indian Institute of Science Director Balaram P, along with other members of the institute’s governing council, orchestrated a “honey trap”…

Read more