A Bengaluru magistrate court Saturday gave bail to Karnataka Home Minister Priyank Kharge and Congress leader Mohammed Haris Nalapad in a criminal defamation complaint filed by an RSS volunteer.

In his complaint, petitioner Tejas A had claimed that the Congress leaders issued communication and public statements about the activities of the RSS and also published certain comments on social media platforms. He has alleged that the statements attributed unlawful, antisocial, and objectionable activities to the RSS and its members and portrayed the organisation in a negative light.

In its order dated June 27, the court had taken cognisance of the complaint only in regard to Kharge and Nalapad, but dropped the case against Congress leader Dinesh Gundu Rao. The court had then issued summons to the accused.

Kharge and Nalapad appeared before the magistrate court on Saturday and sought bail.

In its order, the court said, “The offence alleged against the accused No. 1 and 3 is under section 356 of BNS, which is bailable in nature. Hence, the bail applications filed are allowed. The accused No. 1 and 3 are released on bail on executing a personal bond of Rs. 1,00,000, with cash security of Rs. 10,000 each.”

In June, Kharge had opposed the maintainability of the complaint by Tejas on the ground that a complaint filed by a member of the RSS is not maintainable. He had argued that because the RSS is not a registered organisation, with mandatory membership logs, its individual members lack the legal standing to sue for defamation.

The court had rejected the contention, saying, “The contention is wholly untenable and devoid of merit.”

The matter has now been posted for hearing on September 19.