Soujanya murder case: Karnataka HC stays FIR against YouTuber for his video on the matter | Bengaluru
The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday stayed the First Information Report against YouTuber Sameer M D, who was booked for his investigative video on the Soujanya rape and murder case.
Soujanya (17), a second-year Pre-University student of the Sri Dharmasthala Manjunatheshwara College was allegedly raped and murder on October 9, 2012.
Justice Hemant Chandangoudar granted interim relief to the petitioner by staying the FIR, which was registered at Cowl Bazaar Police Station in Ballari under Section 299 (hurting religious sentiments) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023.
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Sameer had posted a video titled “Dharmasthala Soujanya Case” on his YouTube channel ‘Dhootha: Sameer MD’, which has garnered over 18 million views.
The video peeps into several criminal cases spanning decades in the Dharmasthala region, with particular focus on the 2012 rape and murder of Soujanya, the wrongful conviction and subsequent acquittal of Santosh Rao, and patterns of alleged influence in multiple criminal investigations.
On March 5, 2025, Cowl Bazaar police filed a case on its own stating that the video was religious sentiments of people towards Dharmasthala and its religious leaders.
Advocate on Record A Velan, who led the arguments for Sameer, argued that the FIR was a gross abuse of the legal process and violated the petitioner’s fundamental right to expression.
Velan highlighted the dangerous precedent that would be set if the police interpretation of Section 299 BNS were allowed to stand.
Soujanya case was widely discussed case in Karnataka, especially in the coastal region of the state. Her body was found near the Nethravathi river and her hands were tied to a tree with her shawl.
The police charged Santhosh Rao with the murder but he was acquitted by a Bengaluru Sessions Court on June 16, 2023. Throughout the legal proceedings, Soujanya’s family maintained that Santhosh Rao had been wrongfully implicated, alleging flaws in the investigation and asserting that Veerendra Heggade, a religious leader from Dharmasthala, shielded the actual perpetrators.
The acquittal prompted public protests and renewed calls for a fresh inquiry into the case.
After 11 years of investigation, a Bengaluru court acquitted the lone accused, Santhosh Rao, of all the charges in 2023.
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