The High Court of Karnataka on Wednesday set aside an order passed by Third Additional District and Sessions Court in Ramanagaram, which had, on September 6, 2018, issued a non-bailable warrant against Nithyanada Swami of Nithyananda Dhyana Peeta, Bidadi, while rejecting his plea for exemption from personal appearance during trial for a limited period as he was participating in a religious ritual.
Nithyananda had sought exemption for personal appearance while pointing out that being a sanyasi he was practising ‘Chaturmasa’ on the banks of the Narmada while indicating to the trial court that his lawyer would be present during his period absence besides undertaking that he will not object to any witness taking his name in his limited period of absence during the trial of the alleged rape case against him.
Justice P.S. Dinesh Kumar allowed the petition while noticing that the sessions court had not given any cogent reason for rejecting the plea for exemption. However, the court made it clear that the trial court can pass an order for personal appearance of petitioner for future dates.
The court also set aside a similar order passed by the Ramanagaram sessions court against another accused Siva Vallabhaneni, who had sought exemption as his wife (also an accused in the case) is suffering a serious illness that may lead to cancer if not treated properly.
Dismissed
Meanwhile, the court dismissed a plea by one Ranjitha Menon, who had questioned the rejection of Ramanagaram sessions court’s decision of rejecting her plea to assist the prosecution in the case.
The High Court upheld the order of the sessions court, which had said that she will not be of any assistance to prosecution as she was not a victim in the case as she herself had clarified that she was not the woman in the “morphed video” related to Nithyananda that was released to television channels and social media several years ago.
