The Karnataka High Court on Thursday pulled up Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Basangouda Patil Yatnal for a prima facie defamatory comment about State Minister for Health and Family Welfare Dinesh Gundu Rao’s inter-faith marriage, reported Live Law.

The single judge bench of Justice M Nagaprasanna declined to stay defamation proceedings against Yatnal initiated by the health minister’s wife, Tabassum Rao.

Yatnal made the remark on social media in April in connection with a BJP leader who had been questioned by the National Investigation Agency in the Rameshwaram Cafe blast case.

The High Court on Thursday remarked: “Just because someone’s wife is a Muslim, can you dub him to be ‘half Pakistani’? This is not the way to talk. This is not correct.”

Yatnal’s lawyer argued that the statement was made in response to a public utterance by Dinesh Gundu Rao, but the minister’s wife contended that it was meant to target her.

“They [Bharatiya Janata Party] talk of Bharat Mata [Mother India] but can’t respect women,” Tabassum Rao was quoted as saying by The Indian Express. “I don’t have any problem if he speaks about Dinesh as he is in politics. I don’t like being dragged into this and I am fed up with being targeted for my Muslim roots.”

Yatnal’s lawyer also said that the magistrate’s court had not followed the due process of issuing notice to Yatnal while taking cognisance of the case. The court agreed with this contention and redirected the magistrate to correct his error.