India, Nov. 4 -- The Karnataka High Court has quashed criminal proceedings against a man accused of raising the slogan 'Pakistan Zindabad' during a demonstration organised by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), observing that it was highly unlikely for participants at a BJP rally to deliberately raise such a slogan.

Justice V Srishananda, accepted the possibility that the slogan may have been raised inadvertently, with the word 'Zindabad' being uttered instead of 'Murdabad'.

The Court held that the continuation of criminal proceedings against the petitioner, DS Ravi Kumar, would amount to an abuse of the process of law, particularly in the absence of evidence establishing that the alleged slogan had resulted in social unrest or disturbanc...