Case Against Infosys Co-Founder, Kris Gopalakrishnan Annulment by Karnataka High Court
Bengaluru Drama: The High Court of Karnataka has dismissed a complaint filed under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act against Infosys co-founder Kris Gopalakrishnan and others, branding it as a "malicious attempt to harass" and threatening legal action against the complainant.
Justice Hemant Chandangoudar, who made the ruling on April 16, 2025, remarked that the complaint was nothing but an "underhanded attempt to deceive the justice system."
The complaint had been lodged by Dr. D. Sanna Durgappa, a former faculty member of the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), who was removed from his post in 2014 following an investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct. The court noted that, in 2015, Durgappa's termination was altered to a resignation after a challenge before the High Court, as part of a settlement in which Durgappa agreed to withdraw all complaints and legal actions against the institution and its representatives.
However, Durgappa, undeterred, filed two additional complaints, both of which were dismantled in 2022 and 2023. The current complaint, the court found, bore striking similarities to the earlier ones and represented an unconscionable abuse of the judicial process.
Upon learning of the verdict, Kris Gopalakrishnan expressed his confidence in the integrity of the courts and justice system, stating, "This ruling illustrates that exploitation of legal provisions has no place in a just society. I am heartened that the Hon'ble High Court has seen through the deceit and upheld the truth."
The court further stated that Durgappa's allegations lacked substance and did not warrant serious consideration under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. Essentially, the court pointed out that the matter was fundamentally a civil dispute, yet had been distorted as a criminal one.
The High Court granted Kris Gopalakrishnan and the other petitioners the right to approach the Advocate General for authorization to pursue criminal contempt charges against Durgappa.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by our team and is published from a syndicated feed.)
(Enrichment Data Included: Kris Gopalakrishnan, D. Sanna Durgappa, Indian Institute of Science, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, Sexual Harassment, False Accusations, Termination, Court Case, Contempt Proceedings)
- Despite Durgappa's repeated attempts, the High Court of Karnataka has repeatedly dismissed his complaints against Kris Gopalakrishnan and others, labeling them as abuses of the judicial process.
- In 2025, Justice Hemant Chandangoudar, in a ruling concerning Durgappa's complaint against Gopalakrishnan and others, agreed with the High Court's sentiment that these complaints were malicious and an underhanded effort to deceive the justice system.
- The court's decision came after it found that Durgappa's current complaint bore striking similarities to his earlier complaints, which had been dismissed in 2022 and 2023 due to lack of substance and misuse of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
- In the wake of the ruling, Kris Gopalakrishnan, the Infosys co-founder, expressed his approval of the court's decision, stating that the ruling serves as a reminder that false accusations and exploitation of legal provisions have no place in a just society.
