Haveri police book BJP MP Tejasvi Surya for linking farmer's suicide to wakf row

An FIR has been filed against Bengaluru South MP and Bharatiya Janata Party leader Tejasvi Surya over a social media post allegedly linking a farmer’s suicide with ongoing wakf controversy in the state. 

The MP, in his now-deleted “X” post, had claimed that Rudrappa Channapppa Balikai, a farmer from Haveri, had taken his life after discovering that his land had been “taken over by wakf”.

“A farmer in Haveri commits suicide after finding his land is taken over by wakf. In their haste to appease minorities, CM and ministers (Zameer Ahmed Khan) have unleashed catastrophic effects in Karnataka that are becoming impossible to contain with every passing day,” the MP tweeted. 

The Haveri CEN police station has booked the MP, who is also a member of the Joint Parliamentary Committee on the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, under the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita section 353(2) which deals with punishment for making, publishing or circulating statements intended to create or promote feelings of hatred, enmity or ill-will between different groups. The FIR has also named two editors of Kannada news e-portals for publishing the MP’s false statement. 

Haveri SP, in a press statement, clarified that the farmer Rudrappa (24) had ended his life by consuming poison on January 6, 2022 owing to huge debt caused due to crop loss. The deceased farmer's’ father Channappa Balikai had clarified that his son’s death was not linked to wakf and his late son had availed Rs 3 lakh loan from a bank and another Rs 4 lakh as hand loan, which he could not repay die to crop loss. A case was registered under section 174 of the CrPC in Adur police station. The aggrieved family has been given a compensation of Rs 5 lakh, informed the SP. 

Following the SP’s clarification (which was also posted on social media), Surya thanked the police for the information and informed them that he had deleted the tweet and that he would not rely on the news agency that reported it. He also stated that given the rampant amount of wakf conversion notices to thousands of farmers across the state, one is easily led to believe such outcomes. However, the Haveri police filed the FIR based on the complaint by CPC Sunil Huchchannavar, who is part of the social media monitoring cell of the Haveri district police office.

A furious Surya accused IT minister Priyank Kharge of indiscriminately filing cases against his political opponents and also contended that the deceased farmer’s father Channappa said he was an aggrieved farmer and had met the JPC chief on November 7, to give a memorandum.

Interestingly, the deceased farmer’s father Channappa, speaking to reporters clarified that his son had indeed died after wakf staked claim to their ancestral land. “I went to meet the JPC chief as my land ownership record, which had my father’s name till 1964 and later my name, was suddenly changed to ‘wakf property’ in 2015. They changed the pahani (RTC),” said Channappa, while speaking to reporters on November 8. 

Recalling the incident that led to his son’s death, Channapa said, “The authorities claimed that our land belonged to the wakf and destroyed the standing crops – cotton and sugarcane in our field. My son was deeply distressed and disturbed over the turn of events and drank poison in our field.”

Channappa added, “When I lost my son Rudrappa, I did not mention the wakf incident in the FIR and had just stated he committed suicide due to crop loss and debt. We also received compensation of Rs 5 lakh.”