Bangalore court orders criminal case against Narayana Murthy

A Bangalore court on Saturday ordered registering of a criminal case against Infosys chairman and chief mentor N R Narayana Murthy and issued summons to him to appear before it on June 21 in connection with a private complaint filed against him regarding his remarks on the national anthem.

The Second Additional City and Chief Metropolitan Magistrate M Mujahid Ulla ordered issue of summons returnable on June 21 and registering of a criminal case under Section 3 of the Prevention of Insult to National Honour Act 1971.

The court action follows a private complaint filed before it by Kannada Rakshana Vakilara Vedike (A forum of advocates fighting for implementation of Kannada in courts) on May 3.

The magistrate in his order directed that the complaint be registered as a criminal case against the accused.

The Vedike general secretary H N Raghavendra told PTI that they lodged a complaint in Tilaknagar police station on April 16, seeking action against Murthy for his reported remarks on national anthem.

When the police failed to act, he said, the Vedike filed a private complaint before the court, which came up for hearing on Saturday.

After a function held at the Mysore Infosys campus on April 8, which President A P J Abdul Kalam attended, Murthy had said singing the national anthem would have "embarrassed" company employees of foreign origin and therefore a instrumental version was played there.

As his remarks stirred a hornet's nest, Murthy had apologised, saying, "If the media statement has hurt anybody's sentiments, I deeply apologise."