A green activist — who had called for a public meeting against the felling of thousands of trees to make way for high-tension (HT) power transmission towers through the verdant forests of Kodagu district — has been slapped with charges of waging a war against the State. It is one of the several criminal charges made against activist K A Ravi Chengappa.However, the high court, which is hearing his petition for quashing this case, said it was not convinced with the kind of prosecution and wondered how protesting against a HT power line would amount to waging a war against the state.Chengappa, who heads the Cauvery Sene organisation in Kodagu, had called for a public meeting at the Planters Club at Gonikoppa on July 12, 2011. Pamphlets for the meeting were distributed to call upon people to participate in the meeting so that a petition could be taken to the then chief minister BS Yeddyurappa, energy minister Shobha Karandlaje, and Legislative Assembly speaker and Madikeri MLA KG Bopaiah.A police complaint was filed by one Mallanda K Devaiah (Madhu) against this public meeting. The Virajpet town police registered it as Crime 79/2011 on July 6, 2011, a week before the meeting. The complaint construed the meeting as being against Bopaiah. The police among other things charged Chengappa under the Press and Registration of Books Act 1867, alleging that the one-page pamphlet did not mention the publisher’s name.Another charge made was under Section 505 of the Indian Penal Code about making, publishing or circulating statements or rumours with the intention of causing mutiny or public alarm.In 2012, Chengappa filed a petition before the HC, through advocate P Anu Chengappa, to quash the proceedings. The complainant has failed to respond and the case is still pending.When the case came up for hearing before the HC again on Friday, the court noted that it was not convinced with the police case and continued the stay on the proceedings by the police till the next hearing. The case is now posted for final hearing on February 12, 2015.Chengappa has been campaigning against the new high tension power line being built between Kaiga in Karnataka and Kozhikode in Kerala which would pass through evergreen wildlife sanctuaries and estimated to cause loss of 50,000 trees in Kodagu.