Court grants temporary injunction on publishing or telecasting defamatory news against six ministers
Bengaluru, Mar 6: A city court on Saturday issued a temporary injunction against media organisations from telecasting or publishing of any defamatory and unverified news items against six Karnataka ministers.
The ministers in the Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa- led cabinet had moved the court on Friday seeking injunction.
Additional City Civil and Sessions Judge D S Vijaya Kumar in the order said in his opinion it is necessary to injunct telecasting or publishing of any unverified news items against the plaintiffs/applicants.
"Therefore, till the next date of hearing, defendants/opponents are hereby restrained by an Interim-Order of temporary injunction..."
They are restrained from broadcasting, telecasting or publishing or letting in circulation or posting or accommodating or transmitting or circulating any defamatory news items or showing footages and pictures referring to the plaintiffs in relation to alleged CDs, the court ordered.
They are also restrained from committing any act or intentional omission which thereby causes character assassination of the plaintiffs on the basis of the unverified material, it said.
The six ministers who approached the court are Labour Minister Shivaram Hebbar, Agriculture Minister B C Patil, Cooperation Minister S T Somashekar, Health Minister K Sudhakar, Youth Empowerment and Sports Minister K C Narayana Gowda and Urban Development Minister Bhyrathi Basavaraj.
The six had instituted the suit against 68 defendants, mostly media organisations, for the relief of permanent injunction.
The six ministers are among the 17 MLAs who had rebelled against the then Congress-JD(S) coalition government, leading to its fall in July 2019 and paving way for the BJP to come to power.
Disqualified from their respective parties- Congress and JDS, the MLAs had subsequently joined the BJP, contested bypolls in December 2019 on the saffron party tickets and were made ministers after winning the polls.
Ramesh Jarkiholi, who recently resigned as a minister amid allegations of sexual harassment after the emergence of a sleaze CD, had also defected to the BJP along with 16 MLAs and had become a minister.
The ministers earlier today had said their moving the court was a precautionary measure amid a "big political conspiracy" against them.
They also indicated that more ministers may take similar steps.
Health Minister Sudhakar alleged there seems to be a big political conspiracy to defame them by misusing the media, and they have approached court to prevent this hit-and-run smear campaign.
Cooperation Minister S T Somashekar said "we have come to know from our old friends in the assembly about the conspiracy to target us with an intent to defame and make us resign."
"There is a conspiracy to target during the assembly session with an intent to defame us, so as a precautionary measure we have approached the court, six of us have gone, another six may also go, totally 15-16 of us, who have come to (BJP) as there is apprehension about attempt to defame us.
So we have sought court protection," he told reporters.
He claimed they will get to know in two to three days who is behind it and will make it public.
Agriculture Minister B C Patil pointed out that he has come up in politics without any godfather and some people were not able to digest it.
"With apprehensions about an attempt to defame us as part of political conspiracy by some conspirators, we have approached the court as precautionary measure," he said in a tweet.
Minister Byrathi Basavaraj said they have approached court as there is a conspiracy being hatched against them.
"We have not done anything wrong."
Earlier in the day, state Home minister Basavaraj Bommai said few ministers have sought protection from the court anticipating about attempts to defame them or interfere in their personal life and thereby create political unrest in the state.
"After Ramesh Jarkiholi issue, lot of speculations, suspicion and conspiracies, talks of honey trap and other things are going on and it has been discussed in the media too.So there are apprehensions about attempts to defame certain other ministers and legislators," he told reporters.
"Based on the complaint in the Ramesh Jarkiholi case investigation is going on. However, information that the complainant had to share and statement that the woman (in the video) has to give, has not happened yet."
"So there is suspicion of a conspiracy, that's the reason some (Ministers) are seeking protection by law," he said, adding that police will also investigate from all angles.
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Ruckus outside counting centre in Mamata's constituency, TMC claims entry of car with BJP flag
Kolkata (PTI): The counting centre at West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's Bhabanipur assembly constituency witnessed a ruckus a day ahead of the counting of votes, with TMC workers alleging two cars bearing the BJP's flag were allowed entry to the compound where EVMs are kept.
The incident comes close on the heels of a four-hour-long sit-in by Banerjee in front of the same counting centre at the Sakhawat Memorial Girls School on Thursday night, alleging unauthorised entry of persons into the strongroom.
With the polling now over, the wrangling for power in West Bengal has turned into a battle of nerves between the incumbent TMC and the BJP. Workers and leaders of both parties have been keeping a steely gaze on the security of strongrooms across the state where the electoral fate of the candidates is sealed.
Despite expressing her confidence in a "landslide victory", Banerjee has repeatedly aired her apprehensions of "counting malpractice and EVM tampering ahead of the day of results".
On Sunday morning, TMC workers camping 100 metres from the counting centre alleged that two cars with BJP flags entered the premises and went near the strongroom.
"The CAPF personnel at the spot are not allowing any vehicle or person to enter the premises of the counting centre without valid identity proof. Then how come this car, which we have not seen in the past few days, was allowed entry? Once we protested, the central forces asked us to move 100 metres away," a TMC activist said.
The TMC claimed that while the police personnel posted there promised the vehicle would be removed from the spot, it remained there for some time.
A senior Election Commission official said the car was passing by the Harish Mukherjee Road, and after checking by security forces and police, it was allowed to leave as nothing objectionable was found in it.
On Thursday night, two counting centres, including one at Sakhawat Memorial Girls School in the city, witnessed high drama after TMC leaders alleged a lack of transparency and possible malpractice at the strongrooms housing sealed EVMs of the assembly polls, which concluded on April 29.
TMC leaders and candidates, Sashi Panja and Kunal Ghosh, held a sit-in outside the Khudiram Anushilan Kendra counting centre on Thursday evening, alleging unauthorised activities inside the strongroom amid the absence of TMC agents
In Howrah, TMC protested renovation work by the public works department at a place adjacent to the strongroom, and the EC stopped the work temporarily.
On Saturday, the ruling party filed a complaint with the poll panel, alleging unauthorised sorting of postal ballot covers at the EVM strongroom in Khudiram Anushilan Kendra.
Similar scenes were witnessed on Saturday outside the strongrooms at Asansol College in Paschim Bardhaman and the Barasat Government College in North 24 Parganas districts, where TMC workers held protests, alleging that CCTV cameras were switched off for several minutes.
The EC turned down all allegations, saying the surveillance cameras were working in an uninterrupted manner.
BJP spokesperson Sajal Ghosh told reporters that the people of Bengal were finding it "hilarious" that the TMC, "which used to win elections through unfair means and strongarm tactics" were now coming up with all sorts of "frivolous charges".
"Are they scared of losing?" he posed.
