Dharmasthala case: SC declines hearing on plea against gag order
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court on Wednesday declined to hear a petition challenging a sweeping gag order that restrained media houses from reporting on matters related to the brother of Dharmadhikari D Veerendra Heggade of Dharmsthala in Karnataka.
The gag order pertained to reports on alleged murder of women in Dharmasthala in the state's Dakshina Kannada district.
The plea, filed against an ex parte interim order of a local court, questioned the legality of the directive which directed as many as 390 media houses to remove nearly 9,000 links and stories related to the Dharmsthala burial case.
A bench comprising Chief Justice B R Gavai and Justices K Vinod Chandran and Joymalya Bagchi asked the petitioner as to why the high court had not been approached.
“You go the high court first,” the CJI said.
The gag order was reportedly passed in a defamation suit filed by Harshendra Kumar, Secretary of Sri Manjunathaswamy Temple institutions, who highlighted the spread of allegedly false and defamatory content online, despite there being no specific allegations against him or the temple authorities in any FIR.
Recently, Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara asserted that a thorough investigation must precede any conclusions regarding the alleged murder of women in Dharmasthala.
Prior to this, the state government constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the allegations.
The plea in the top court was filed by YouTube channel Third Eye against a Bengaluru court order restraining the publication of any defamatory content against Harshendra Kumar D, brother of Dharmasthala Dharmadhikari Veerendra Heggade, in relation to the Dharmasthala temple burial case.
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Pune airport runway restored after IAF aircraft snag; ops resume
Pune (PTI): The runway at Pune airport, which was temporarily unavailable due to an incident involving an Indian Air Force (IAF) aircraft, has now been restored and declared operational, the Air Force said on Saturday.
The authorities at the Pune International Airport had earlier said that around 10.25 pm on Friday, a fighter aircraft experienced an undercarriage failure during landing, causing the runway to be blocked.
As many as 91 flights of airlines, including IndiGo, Air India, SpiceJet, Akasa, and Air India Express, were affected due to the incident, they said.
Earlier on Friday night, the Air Force had stated that the runway at Pune airport was temporarily unavailable following an incident involving one of its fighter aircraft. The aircrew are safe, and there is no damage to civil property, it had said.
"The runway at Pune Airport, which was temporarily unavailable due to an incident involving an Indian Air Force aircraft, has now been restored and declared operational. All necessary safety inspections and clearances have been completed. Operations are resuming in a phased manner," it said in a post on X.
Flight operations at Pune airport are being gradually restored. The situation has been brought under control with the highest priority given to the safety of citizens, a Defence PRO said.
