A court in Bengaluru recently passed a fresh order directing various entities, including media portals and YouTube channels, to take down allegedly defamatory content against the Dharmasthala temple, its Dharmadhikari Dr. D Veerendra Heggade, and his family, in connection with the Dharmasthala burials case [Harshendra Kumar D v. Mahesh Shetty Alias Ravi and ors].
In the order passed on August 29, Additional City Civil and Sessions Judge Anitha M also issued an interim injunction against further publication of such content after a hearing in the defamation suit filed by the Secretary of Sri Manjunathaswamy Temple institutions in Dharmasthala.
"(Defendants except those who are yet to be served summons or notice and those against whom suit is not pressed) are hereby directed by way of mandatory injunction not to transmit/ telecast videos/ URLs mentioned/ specified in the schedule of the application till the disposal of the suit," the trial court ordered.
The defamation suit was filed over media reporting of a sanitation worker's claims that he had buried several bodies in Dharmasthala.
Notably, the sanitation worker was recently arrested on allegations of perjury by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) that was probing the burial case, after several inconsistencies were reportedly found in his statements.
Before this, Additional City Civil & Sessions Judge Vijaya Kumar Rai in July had passed a sweeping interim media gag order in the matter.
"The Court cannot ignore the fact that though the reputation of every citizens is very important, when an allegation is made against the institution, and temple, it affects wider range of people including the employees and students who are studying in various colleges and schools. Therefore, even a single false and defamatory publication would seriously affect the functioning of the institutions," Judge Rai had said.
This gag order was challenged before the Supreme Court by a YouTube Channel, Kudla Rampage. However, the top court refused to directly interfere in the matter and suggested that an appeal be first filed before the Karnataka High Court. The High Court later granted Kudla Rampage relief and quashed the gag order against it, prompting the temple's administration to approach the Supreme Court.
The top court, however, again refused to interfere in the matter and asked the temple's Secretary to approach the trial court with his grievance.
Meanwhile, news portal The News Minute, also moved a plea before the Karnataka High Court to quash the gag order against it.
By this time, Sessions Judge Rai decided to recuse from hearing the defamation suit and the matter was posted before the present judge, Judge Anitha M.
On August 6, Judge Anitha M decided not to extend the media gag order any further. Consquently, The News Minute's plea before the High Court in the matter was closed as infructuous.
However, after reconsidering the temple secretary's (plaintiff) application for a restraining order against defamatory reports, the trial court has now ordered the takedown of various publications flagged by the plaintiff as defamatory, reckless, and baseless.
The matter will be heard next on September 27.
Advocate S Rajashekar Hiliyaru appeared on behalf of D Harshendra Kumar, the Dharmasthala temple's secretary.