The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday ordered legal action against a man falsely claiming a love affair with a girl, while dismissing his petition alleging ``illegal detention’’ of the girl by her parents. He will also be prosecuted for producing a concocted marriage invitation card to support his claim before the court.
One Prakash, formerly working with Conserve Systems Pvt Ltd, had filed a habeas corpus writ petition seeking the Court to direct Adugodi police to trace and produce before the court, one Pooja (name changed) to ``save her from illegal detention by her parents.’’ He had claimed that he and Pooja, who had also previously worked in the same company, were in love since two and a half years and though her parents were initially against it, later arranged their marriage to June 29, 2007 with the consent of his parents. But, on the ‘wedding day’  she or her parents did not turn up and were untraceable from then on, according to his petition which also carried a marriage invitation card printed in the name of Pooja’s parents.
While the Court had sought a response from the police, Conserve Systems company’s advocate came before the court and stated that Prakash’s claims were false. The advocate stated that Pooja had moved from Bangalore because of Prakash’s harassment. The Court had then sought Pooja to appear before it on Tuesday. She told the Court that Prakash’s claims were baseless, and she had resigned her job and moved from Bangalore to avoid the harassment.
The Court interrogated Prakash, who admitted that he had got the invitation cards printed in the name of Pooja’s parents without consulting them or Pooja but repeatedly stated that he loved Pooja.
The Bench comprising Justice K L Manjunath and Justice Jawad Rahim observed that Prakash had filed false complaint to police and also misled the Court with his false statements and concocted marriage invitation card. The Bench directed the jurisdictional magistrate to register a case against Prakash for providing false evidence before the court while dismissing the petition with heavy costs of Rs 15,000.
Action against cops
During the hearing, advocate Shashikiran Shetty, appearing for Pooja and the company, stated that the company and Pooja had filed four complaints with the Cyber Crime police against Prakash, but no action had been taken till date. State Public Prosecutor S Dore Raju was questioned by the bench and it was found that the authorities had remained inactive.
Taking a serious view, the Bench directed Director General of Police to take disciplinary action against the concerned cops, who had failed in their duty. Due to lack of timely action and protection from police, the girl was forced to move, the Bench noted while seeking DGP’s action report within 3 months