DHEERAJ G KUNDER vs THE STATE OF KARNATAKA
- Court
- Karnataka High Court
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HC-KAR
NC: 2026:KHC:57298
CRL.P No. 16549 of 2025
CNR: KAHC010787262025
IN THE HIGH COURT OF KARNATAKA AT BENGALURU
TH
DATED THIS THE 12 DAY OF OCTOBER, 2026
BEFORE
THE HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE SURAJ GOVINDARAJ
CRIMINAL PETITION NO. 16549 OF 2025
(482(Cr.PC) / 528(BNSS)-)
BETWEEN:
1. DHEERAJ G KUNDER
S/O GOPALAKRISHNA M.
AGED ABOUT 25 YEARS,
R/AT, NO.CL-3-26B,
NITK CAMPUS,
SURATHKAL,
SRINIVASA NAGAR,
MANGALURU,
D.K. DISTRICT-575 025
2. SHRAVAN,
S/O M. SURESH.
AGED 23 YEARS.
R/AT NO.5-13/6,
TH
5 BLOCK,
KRISHNAPURA,
KATIPALLA,
MANGALURU,
D.K. DISTRICT- 575 030
3. ROSHAN,
S/O NARAYANA,
AGED ABOUT 25 YEARS,
R/AT NO.4-202,
KATIPALLA,
MANGALURU,
D.K. DISTRICT-575 030
4. SOHAN,
S/O SADASHIVA,
AGED ABOUT 25 YEARS,
Digitally Signed By:
SURAJ GOVINDA RAJ
30/10/2026, 17:10, Bengaluru)
Verified
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R/AT NO. GL-3-238/1,
RD
3 BLOCK,
KATIPALLA,
MANGALURU,
D.K. DISTRICT-575 030
5. AJITH @ GUNAPAL POONJA,
S/O LOKANATH POONJA,
AGED ABOUT 29 YEARS,
R/AT NADUMANE, B.T. ROAD,
UPPALA, KASARAGOD DISTRICT,
KERALA STATE -671 322
…PETITIONERS
(BY SRI. K RAVISHANKAR., ADVOCATE)
AND:
1. THE STATE OF KARNATAKA
REP. BY D.K. CENTRAL CRIME,
MANGALURU CITY,
D.K. DISTRICT-575 001
AND ALSO REPRESENTED BY
THE OFFICE OF THE SPP,
HIGH COURT OF KARNATAKA,
BENGALURU 560 001
2. DIVYA,
D/O NAGARAJ,
AGED 36 YEARS,
R/AT NO. KEMMINJE ROAD,
KEMMINJE, PUTTUR TALUK,
D.K. DISTRICT -
…RESPONDENTS
(BY SRI. RANJITH KUMAR., HCGP FOR R1)
THIS CRIMINAL PETITION IS FILED U/S 482 CR.PC (FILED U/S
528 BNSS) PRAYING TO QUASH THE ENTIRE PROCEEDINGS IN
ST
CC.NO.899/2024 (CR.NO.5/2020) REGISTERED BY THE 1
RESPONDENT POLICE AS AGAINST THE PETITIONERS FOR THE
OFFENCES P/U/S. 66(C) AND 67 OF THE INFORMATION
Digitally Signed By:
SURAJ GOVINDA RAJ
30/10/2026, 17:10, Bengaluru)
Verified
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CRL.P No. 16549 of 2025
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TECHNOLOGY ACT 2008 NOW PENDING ON THE FILE OF THE
PRL.CIVIL JUDGE AND JMFC, PUTTUR D.K.
THIS CRIMINAL PETITION, COMING ON FOR ADMISSION, THIS
DAY, ORDER WAS MADE THEREIN AS UNDER:
CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE SURAJ GOVINDARAJ
ORAL ORDER
1. Learned HCGP has filed a memo enclosing the FSL
report. His submission is that the FSL did not have
the facility to verify.
2. The petitioners are before this Court seeking for the
following reliefs:
Quash the entire proceedings in CC.No.899/2024
st
(Cr.No.5/2020) registered by the 1 respondent
police as against the petitioners for the offences
p/u/s. 66(c) and 67 of the Information Technology
Act 2008 now pending on the file of the Prl.Civil
Judge and JMFC, Puttur D.K.
3. The present petition is filed under Section 482 of the
Code of Criminal Procedure, challenging the charge
sheet filed against the petitioners in Crime No.
5/2020 of D.K. Central Crime Police Station. The said
crime was registered on 06.03.2020 on the basis of a
complaint lodged by respondent No. 2 for offences
Digitally Signed By:
SURAJ GOVINDA RAJ
30/10/2026, 17:10, Bengaluru)
Verified
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punishable under Sections 66(C) and 67 of the
Information Technology Act, 2000 (hereinafter
referred to as ‘ the IT Act’ ). Upon completion of
investigation, the charge sheet was filed on
17.07.2024. The petitioners seek quashing of the
said proceedings.
4. The complaint lodged by respondent No. 2 alleges
that she was working as a lecturer at St. Philomina
College, Puttur, and had an Instagram account.
According to the complaint, unknown persons used
her Instagram ID and a photograph available on that
account to circulate an obscene video in a WhatsApp
group named ‘Bad Boys’. Thereafter, the Instagram
ID, photograph and video were circulated in other
WhatsApp groups. Respondent No. 2 further alleged
that she began receiving messages on her Instagram
account in connection with the said circulation. On
these allegations, she lodged the complaint, which
resulted in registration of the crime.
5. Learned counsel for the petitioners, Sri K.
Ravishankar, submits that the photograph available
on the Instagram account of respondent No. 2 and
the person shown in the indecent video are different.
According to him, the circulation of the photograph
Digitally Signed By:
SURAJ GOVINDA RAJ
30/10/2026, 17:10, Bengaluru)
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and Instagram ID of respondent No. 2, without any
material establishing that she is the person shown in
the video, does not attract the offences alleged under
the IT Act. It is therefore contended that the
allegations in the complaint do not make out the
offences against the petitioners.
6. Having regard to the said submission, the learned
High Court Government Pleader was directed to
examine the forensic material and place the relevant
reports before this Court, particularly with regard to
the identity of the female person shown in the
photograph and the video.
7. Today, learned HCGP has filed a memo enclosing the
test reports of the photo signatory. The first test
report dated 25.04.2024 deals with the examination
of the mobile, model number LLD-AL 10. In the
opinion of the expert, it is stated as under:
OPINION
1. The Honor mobile phone marked as DJa was supported
for partial data extraction only. The extracted digital data
contains the details are as follows:
•
5 alleged files namely: IMG-20200303-WA0003, IMG-
20200304-WA0016, VID-20200303 WA0005, VID-
20200303-WA0024 and IMG-20200303-WA0023.jpg are
present and which are similar to the images present in
reference copy of the D2b and D2c (IO mark:Z (W2 and -
W3)) of case file FSL/MFS/473/2021,
Digitally Signed By:
SURAJ GOVINDA RAJ
30/10/2026, 17:10, Bengaluru)
Verified
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Reg.No.FSL(Be)/3737/2020) based on visual observation.
The details are enclosed in a soft copy as Annexure-Ala.
Further, the content of reference copy of D2a is not
present.
•
1 WhatsApp Application is installed and is registered using
mobile number 917892593924 The details are enclosed in a
soft copy as Annexure-Alb.
•
The WhatsApp shared details of 5 alleged files present in
Annexure-Ala are as follows:
Sl.
No
Alleged image
file name
From Mobile
number
To mobile
number/WhatsApp
Group name
1 IMG-20200
918151899719
917892593924
303-WA0003
2 IMG-20200
TEAM MAHAKAL
and
917411839587
304-WA0016
917892593924
3 VID-20200
917892593924 918151899719
303-WA0005
4 VID-20200
917892593924 919535010926
303-WA0024
5 VID-20200
917892593924 919535010926
303-WA0023.
jpg
The WhatsApp shared details of 5 alleged files are enclosed
in a soft copy as Annexure-Alc. Further, the alleged
WhatsApp group namely: BAD BOYS present in D2a, D2b
and D2c is not present.
Digitally Signed By:
SURAJ GOVINDA RAJ
30/10/2026, 17:10, Bengaluru)
Verified
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8. A perusal of the above would indicate that the image
files which have the prefix IMG and the video files
which have the prefix VID above had been examined,
and the images found are similar in both the
photograph and the video as examined with the
photograph on Instagram.
9. The second report dated 28.07.2023, which relates
to examination of the mobile phone Lenovo Model
No.XT 1902-3 indicates the following opinion:
OPINION
1. The alleged video & image files present in Lenovo
mobile phone marked as DMa, Redmi mobile phones
marked as DP1a, DP3a & Realme mobile phone marked
as DP2a are furnished in report No.FSL/MFS/473/2021.
Further, editing of alleged image/video files in the
respective mobile phones is beyond the scope of Audi
Video Forensic Section, SFSL, Bengaluru. Hence,
analysis of the same is not carried out.
2. The Audio-Video Forensic Section, SFSI, Bengaluru
does not have tools/facility to compare visual content of
the A4 size document marked as DZ1 to DZ3 with in
screenshot of the of the documents marked as DBS-1 to
DBS-5, DBS0-1 to DBS0-4 & DBR-1 to DBR-5. Hence,
opinion on the same could not be ascertained.
3. The facial features of the female individual present in
A4 size documents marked as DZ2 & DZ3 are similar
with respect to facial features of the female individual
present in A4 size documents marked as DBS-2 & DBS5
and DBS0-3 & DBS0-4. The system generated facial
feature comparison reports are enclosed in a hardcopy
Digitally Signed By:
SURAJ GOVINDA RAJ
30/10/2026, 17:10, Bengaluru)
Verified
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as Annexures-Al (02 Pages). Further, the facial features
of female individual are not visible in DZ1, DBS1, DBS3,
DBS4, DBS0-1, DBS0-2, BR-1 to BR-5. Hence,
comparison of the same is not possible.
10. Insofar as this report is concerned, the reference to
DZ1 and DZ3 is a screenshot of the image and video
and the reference to DBS-2, DBS-1 to DBS-5, DBSO-
1 TO DBSO-4, and DBR-1 TO DBR-5 is related to a
WhatsApp screenshot of the image and video files.
The report indicates that the facial features of the
female individual present in A4-size documents
marked as DZ1 and DZ3 are similar with respect to
the facial features of the female individual present in
A4-size documents marked as DBS-2 and DBS-5 and
DBSO-3 and DBS0-4. Though it is stated that the
Forensic Science Laboratory [FSL], Bengaluru does
not have the tools or facilities to compare the visual
content of A4-size documents, the opinion on the
visual inspection has been provided.
11. The third report is dated 24.05.2023 relating to the
Lenovo mobile phone of Model No.XT1902-3 bearing
IMEI No. 1:864310035012411, as well as other
models viz., Realme mobile Phone Model No. RMX
1971 and Redmi Mobile Phone Model No. ME 17S
Digitally Signed By:
SURAJ GOVINDA RAJ
30/10/2026, 17:10, Bengaluru)
Verified
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(Redmi Note 5 Pro) and Redmi Mobile Phone Model
No. M1901 F71 (Redmi Note 7).
12. On examination of the said phones, it is opined that
the Lenovo Mobile Phone marked as D1a contains
WhatsApp chats in the WhatsApp group namely Bad
Boys. The complete chat of the WhatsApp group
named ‘Bad Boys’ was enclosed in a soft copy as
Annexure- A1. The images contained in Realme and
Redmi are also related to the WhatsApp group, and
they contain several images and videos, and a
detailed report has been provided as to how there is
a transfer of images and videos from one mobile
WhatsApp account to the other.
13. The allegations in the complaint are not confined to
the circulation of an ordinary photograph of
respondent No. 2. The specific allegation is that a
photograph available on her Instagram account was
used in connection with an obscene video and that
the video, along with her Instagram ID and contact
details, was circulated in WhatsApp groups, including
a group named ‘Bad Boys’.
14. The use of a publicly available photograph does not,
by itself, authorise another person to misuse it,
create an obscene or indecent video by associating it
Digitally Signed By:
SURAJ GOVINDA RAJ
30/10/2026, 17:10, Bengaluru)
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with the photograph, or circulate the resulting
material along with the woman’s identity and contact
details. A photograph posted by a person on a social
media account for ordinary and legitimate purposes
cannot be treated as consent to its use in obscene
material or to the circulation of such material among
others.
15. The alleged act of using the complainant’s
photograph to create or circulate a fake obscene
video, and then placing her Instagram ID and contact
details before members of WhatsApp groups, is a
serious allegation. If established, such conduct would
expose the complainant to unwanted attention,
humiliation, harassment and harm to her reputation.
It would also adversely affect her dignity and privacy
as a woman. The alleged circulation of the material in
groups for public consumption aggravates the nature
of the allegation, as the complainant’s identity and
contact details are allegedly made available to
persons who may use them to contact or harass her.
16. The seriousness of the allegation is also evident from
the complainant’s statement that, following the
circulation, she began receiving messages on her
Instagram account. The allegation is that the
Digitally Signed By:
SURAJ GOVINDA RAJ
30/10/2026, 17:10, Bengaluru)
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material was circulated in a manner that linked her
identity to an obscene video and thereby exposed
her to unwanted communications. The effect of such
conduct cannot be assessed merely by observing that
the original photograph was available on Instagram.
The issue is the alleged misuse of that photograph,
the association of her identity with the obscene
video, and the subsequent circulation of the material
and her contact details.
17. These allegations require examination in the context
of the material collected during investigation. The
forensic reports refer to the recovery of image and
video files, the sharing of such files through
WhatsApp, and similarity in the facial features of the
female person appearing in certain images and
screenshots. The reports therefore provide material
that supports the prosecution’s case and requires
consideration at trial. The petitioners’ contention that
the person shown in the video is different from
respondent No. 2 raises a disputed question of fact
which cannot be conclusively determined in the
present proceedings.
18. The allegations which have been made in the
complaint are serious, that a woman's Instagram ID
Digitally Signed By:
SURAJ GOVINDA RAJ
30/10/2026, 17:10, Bengaluru)
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with her image and an indecent video has been
circulated in various WhatsApp groups by the
petitioners. Section 66(C) of IT Act is reproduced
hereunder for easy reference:
66C. Punishment for identity theft. –
Whoever, fraudulently or dishonestly make use of
the electronic signature, password or any other
unique identification feature of any other person,
shall be punished with imprisonment of either
description for a term which may extend to three
years and shall also be liable to fine with may
extend to rupees one lakh.
19. A perusal of Section 66-C indicates that whoever has
fraudulently or dishonestly made use of electronic
signature, password or any other unique
identification feature of any other person, shall be
punished with imprisonment or video description for
a term which may extend to 3 years and shall also be
liable to fine which may extend to ₹1,00,000/-. In
the present case, it is the identification or the facial
identification of the person which has been used, as
also, the Instagram handle of the respondent No.2
has been shared in the various WhatsApp groups
with a video showing the same facial features as
respondent No.2.
Digitally Signed By:
SURAJ GOVINDA RAJ
30/10/2026, 17:10, Bengaluru)
Verified
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20. Insofar as Section 67 is concerned, the same relates
to publishing or transmitting of obscene material in
electronic form, which is reproduced hereunder for
easy reference:
67. Punishment for publishing or transmitting
obscene material in electronic form. -
Whoever publishes or transmits or causes to be
published or transmitted in the electronic form, any
material which is lascivious or appeals to the prurient
interest or if its effect is such as to tend to deprave and
corrupt persons who are likely, having regard to all
relevant circumstances, to read, see or hear the matter
contained or embodied in it, shall be punished on first
conviction with imprisonment of either description for a
term which may extend to three years and with fine
which may extend to five lakh rupees and in the event of
second or subsequent conviction with imprisonment of
either description for a term which may extend to five
years and also with fine which may extend to ten lakh
rupees.
21. A perusal of Section 67 indicates that whoever
publishes or transmits or causes to be published or
transmitted in the electronic form, any material
which is lascivious or appeals to the prurient interest
or if its effect is such as to tend to deprave and
corrupt persons who are likely, having regard to all
relevant circumstances, to read, see or hear the
matter contained or embodied in it , shall be punished
on first conviction. The video which has been
circulated is an erotic, indecent video, bearing the
Digitally Signed By:
SURAJ GOVINDA RAJ
30/10/2026, 17:10, Bengaluru)
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facial resemblance of the complainant, as per the
report of the FSL. Whether it is indeed so would have
to be subject to trial.
22. The complaint alleges that an obscene video was
circulated through WhatsApp groups along with the
Instagram ID and photograph of respondent No. 2.
The prosecution relies upon the recovered image and
video files, the WhatsApp records and the forensic
reports in support of these allegations. The
allegations, taken together with the material
collected during investigation, raise issues
concerning the nature of the video, the manner of its
circulation, the use of the complainant’s identity and
the role of the petitioners in the alleged acts.
23. The contention of learned counsel for the petitioners
that the photograph of respondent No. 2 and the
person shown in the video are different cannot be
accepted as a ground for quashing the proceedings.
The forensic reports contain material indicating
similarity in facial features. The reports also record
the limitations of the forensic examination. These
aspects must be assessed together with the other
evidence during trial. This Court cannot undertake a
detailed examination of the forensic material or
Digitally Signed By:
SURAJ GOVINDA RAJ
30/10/2026, 17:10, Bengaluru)
Verified
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decide the disputed question of identity in a petition
under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
24. The petitioners seek to have the proceedings
terminated at the threshold by relying upon their
contention that the photograph and the person
shown in the video are different. However, the
prosecution case is not based solely on the
complainant’s photograph. It also relies upon the
alleged circulation of the video, the WhatsApp
records, the recovered files and the forensic reports.
The material collected during investigation must be
considered as a whole. The petitioners’ contention
does not displace the prosecution material or
establish that the proceedings are liable to be
quashed.
25. The investigation has been completed and the charge
sheet has been filed. The material collected during
investigation provides a basis for the prosecution to
proceed. The allegations concern the alleged misuse
of a woman’s photograph and identifying details to
circulate obscene material in WhatsApp groups. The
forensic reports indicate similarity in facial features
and record the sharing of image and video files. The
disputed questions regarding the identity of the
Digitally Signed By:
SURAJ GOVINDA RAJ
30/10/2026, 17:10, Bengaluru)
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person shown in the video, the manner in which the
material was created or circulated, and the role of
each petitioner are matters for the trial court to
determine on the evidence.
26. This Court, while exercising jurisdiction under Section
482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, cannot
conduct a mini-trial or weigh the forensic evidence as
though deciding the guilt or innocence of the
petitioners. The power to quash proceedings is not to
be exercised where the allegations in the complaint
and the material collected during investigation raise
issues that require adjudication at trial. The present
case falls in that category.
27. Accordingly, this Court finds no ground to exercise its
jurisdiction under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal
Procedure to quash the charge sheet or the
proceedings arising therefrom.
28. The petition stands dismissed .
29. It is made clear that the observations made in this
order are confined to the consideration of the petition
under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
The trial court shall conduct the trial independently
and decide the matter on the basis of the evidence
Digitally Signed By:
SURAJ GOVINDA RAJ
30/10/2026, 17:10, Bengaluru)
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adduced before it, uninfluenced by any observation
made herein.
Digitally Signed By:
SURAJ GOVINDA RAJ
30/10/2026, 17:10, Bengaluru)
Verified
(SURAJ GOVINDARAJ)
JUDGE
LN
List No.: 3 Sl No.: 2