Bangalore : The Karnataka High Court observed on Tuesday that if the courts went on arresting persons accused in private complaints, the prisons in the country will be filled up with such jail-birds.” When ex-CM was sent to jail by a special (LA) court, the high court was tickled by sadness. The state courts have decided not to honour any private complaints again, and any private litigant may be turned out by the high court hereafter.

The new observation is likely to benefit tainted ministers like R. Ashok and M. Nirani who expected to go to jail on scams in which they were really neck-deep in trouble.

That was why R. Ashok had gone to meet Yeddyurappa on the night the ex-CM had returned on bail from state Central Jail, but he was sent out with rebuke.