One year later, Bangalore Mirror takes down erroneous article on former Karnataka HC judge Justice HG Ramesh; tenders apology

Almost a year after it was published, Bangalore Mirror has retracted an article titled "A bad judge of the city’s laws”, which alleged that former Acting Chief Justice of the Karnataka High Court Justice HG Ramesh had made “multiple encroachments” while constructing his residential house in Bangalore. .The genesis of the issue can be traced back to August 29, 2019, when Bangalore Mirror had published the said article along with a photograph of Justice Ramesh implying that he had made multiple encroachments while constructing his residential house by violating a number of building bye-laws. ."Former Acting Chief Justice of Karnataka High Court HG Ramesh is building a bungalow in HSR Layout and neighbors say he's made 'multiple encroachments", reads an excerpt from the 2019 article. .Aggrieved by the news article, a legal notice on behalf of Justice Ramesh was issued to Bangalore Mirror stating that the contents of the news item were factually wrong, and that the allegations made therein were completely baseless. .On Saturday, Bangalore Mirror took down the said article, accepting that the contents of the article were not true to facts. The publication has also tendered an unconditional apology to Justice Ramesh for the mental agony and pain caused to him. .The apology reads as follows:."An article titled “A bad judge of the city’s laws” along with the photograph of Justice HG Ramesh (Retired) was published in the Bangalore Mirror dated 29th August 2019. We wish to clarify that the statements made in the said article were based on inputs received from sources. It has now come to our knowledge that the statements implying that Justice Ramesh had made “multiple encroachments”, while constructing his residential house, violated building bye laws, planted trees in front of his house to prevent others from parking are erroneous and untrue. We hold Justice Ramesh in high esteem. The said statements being erroneous are regretted and fully withdrawn. We apologize to Justice Ramesh for the mental agony, and pain caused to him because of this erroneous article."