Top News

Bengaluru: The Karnataka High Court has stayed the order of the 57th CCH court that allowed home-cooked meals for accused in the Renukaswamy murder case, including the main accused Pavithra Gowda.

Pavithra Gowda, who is an A1 accused in the case, had sought permission through her lawyer to receive home-cooked food. Along with her, accused Nagaraju and Lakshman also filed similar requests.

The 57th CCH court had initially ordered daily home-cooked meals for them. Later, the court modified its order and allowed home-cooked meals only once a week.

The jail authorities challenged this order in the High Court, saying that no accused should get special privileges. The government lawyer argued that if home-cooked meals are allowed for Pavithra Gowda and others, other inmates may also demand the same. This could disturb jail discipline.

The jail food has been rated 4 stars by FSSAI (Food Safety and Standards Authority of India). No other inmates have raised complaints about the quality of food. Based on this, the state government requested the High Court to stay the 57th CCH court’s order.

A bench led by Justice Nagaprasanna, after hearing the arguments, granted interim stay on the 57th CCH court order.

The High Court said the law is equal for all and no special privileges should be given to any inmate. It added that home-cooked meals should be allowed only in very exceptional cases and only with the approval of the IGP, and strictly for medical reasons.

With this order, Pavithra Gowda, Nagaraju and Lakshman have been denied the home-cooked meal facility for now.