The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday reserved its verdict on the maintainability of a petition by YouTube channel Kudla Rampage challenging the media gag imposed by a civil court with respect to the Dharmasthala mass burial case. .The civil court had restrained media houses, YouTube channels etc. from publishing 'defamatory content' against the family running the Dharmasthala Temple.This led to the plea before the High Court.Justice M Nagaprasanna of High Court today orally stated that he will try to pronounce orders on the aspect of maintainability of the petition by Friday, August 1..Kudla Rampage moved the High Court challenging an order passed earlier this month by Bengaluru Additional City Civil and Sessions Judge Vijaya Kumar Rai, on a defamation suit filed by the Secretary of Sri Manjunathaswamy Temple institutions in Dharmasthala.The suit was filed following reports containing allegations by a sanitation worker that he had buried several dead bodies in Dharmasthala.The defamation suit referred to over 8,000 weblinks with content that was argued to be defamatory to the family who administered the Dharmasthala temple. The trial court ordered the takedown of such content that allegedly defamed Harshendra Kumar D, the brother of Dharmasthala Dharmadhikari Veerendra Heggade.It also restrained the publication of similar content till further orders..Kudla Rampage challenged this directive before the High Court.It was argued that the issue was not about a few parties but has a wide-ranging impact. "This trial court order is unsustainable. It is without jurisdiction. Let my senior (counsel representing the temple's representatives) say how many injunction orders they have obtained, continuously," argued advocate A Velan today on behalf of the YouTube channel.He added that the trial court's ex-parte order was passed without examining whether the content highlighted was actually defamatory. "It is humanly impossible to peruse 9000 video links in 3 hours!" he said."If we direct that the trial court should peruse 9000 URLs and decide the matter, probably it will take two years," Justice Nagaprasanna replied.Velan responded by pointing out that since it was the temple's representative (plaintiff) who took issue with and placed so many links before the trial court, he also had the liability to show how such content was defamatory..Representing the temple's representatives, Senior Advocate Udaya Holla argued,"Can they (petitioner and others who uploaded content) say, I will now publish defamatory content? Answer is no ... All the trial court says is remove defamatory content.""All 9000 links?" Velan retorted."Defamatory according to whom?" Justice Nagaprasanna pondered in turn. Velan further argued that the trial court's order would affect investigative journalism. He pointed out that even the Special Investigation Team (SIT) formed to probe the Dharmasthala mass burials case had referred to media reports and had even sought information from the public to trace the identity of those who may be missing or suspected of having been buried. He added that the Court should be cautious before passing orders that may restrain the freedom of the media in such matters."Media, not social media," Justice Nagaprasanna observed. .The Court also questioned whether it ought to entertain a plea by a YouTube channel that has been accused of violating earlier injunction orders."Why are you violating the order? how do expect us to entertain a petitioner who has continuously violated orders? You have opened channel after channel, after injunction order," Justice Nagaprasanna observed. Senior Advocate Holla too argued that the language used by the YouTube channel's host was highly defamatory. "Here is a person who goes to extent of saying I will arrest that judge - absolutely demeaning! I have the video," Holla said. .Justice Nagaprasanna eventually hinted that he will pass an order on whether the plea is maintainable by the end of this week. The Court also allowed the counsel to submit written submissions by tomorrow. "We can't keep it for long. Maintainability, we'll see. We will try to pronounce on Friday. But tomorrow you have to give written submissions. But your (petitioner's/ Kudla Rampage's) conduct, we should encourage restraint," Justice Nagaprasanna said..[Live Coverage]
