Activist Dinesh Kallahalli to withdraw complaint of sexual harassment against Ramesh Jarkiholi
Bengaluru, Mar 7: In a twist to the alleged sex-for-job scandal in Karnataka, social activist Dinesh Kallahalli on Sunday said he would withdraw his police complaint against BJP MLA Ramesh Jarkiholi, which had led to his resignation.
Dinesh Kallahalli said he will withdraw the complaint as he was hurt by allegations of a Rs 5 crore deal, levelled by JDS leader H D Kumaraswamy. However, the activist's laywer said there were some technical probelms due to which the decision was taken.
Meanwhile, Balachandra Jarkiholi, brother of Ramesh Jarkiholi, alleged that there was a big conspiracy in the state in which four teams have been working to 'malign' Jarkiholi and target the BJP ahead of assembly elections in five states.
Seeking a CBI probe into the episode, he told reporters here that the video allegedly featuring his brother and a woman was "doctored."
The activist has accused Jarkiholi of sexually exploiting a woman under the pretext of offering her a job in the Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation Limited (KPTCL).
As the matter snowballed into a major controversy, Jarikiholi tendered his resignation to Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa, which was forwarded to Governor Vajubhai Vala, who accepted it immediately.
Speaking to reporters, Kallahalli said, "I am deeply pained by Kumaraswamy's charge that I struck a Rs five crore deal. Hence, I decided to withdraw my complaint."
Kumaraswamy had on Friday alleged that the entire expose was a Rs five crore 'deal' and demanded that those claiming to have the objectionable video clips should be arrested immediately as it was a 'blackmail tactic.'
Kumar Patil, Kallahalli's lawyer, told media on Sunday that there were some technical problems due to which his client decided to withdraw the complaint.
To a query, Patil said his client was not the one to succumb to any political pressure.
"My client is not the one to give up his struggle. His objective was to grant justice to the victim," the lawyer said.
Amid apprehensions of a 'political conspiracy' being hatched to defame them, six ministers of the Yediyurappa-led cabinet have secured a court injunction restraining media from airing or publishing any defamatory content against them.
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Trump sues BBC for USD 10 billion, alleges defamation over edited Jan 6 speech
Washington (AP): President Donald Trump filed a lawsuit Monday seeking USD 10 billion in damages from the BBC, accusing the British broadcaster of defamation as well as deceptive and unfair trade practices.
The 33-page lawsuit accuses the BBC of broadcasting a “false, defamatory, deceptive, disparaging, inflammatory, and malicious depiction of President Trump,” calling it “a brazen attempt to interfere in and influence” the 2024 US presidential election.
It accused the BBC of “splicing together two entirely separate parts of President Trump's speech on January 6, 2021” in order to ”intentionally misrepresent the meaning of what President Trump said.”
The lawsuit, filed in a Florida court, seeks USD 5 billion in damages for defamation and USD 5 billion for unfair trade practices.
The BBC did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press.
The broadcaster apologised last month to Trump over the edit of the Jan. 6 speech. But the publicly funded BBC rejected claims it had defamed him, after Trump threatened legal action.
BBC chairman Samir Shah had called it an “error of judgment,” which triggered the resignations of the BBC's top executive and its head of news.
The speech took place before some of Trump's supporters stormed the US Capitol as Congress was poised to certify President-elect Joe Biden's victory in the 2020 election that Trump falsely alleged was stolen from him.
The BBC had broadcast the hourlong documentary — titled “Trump: A Second Chance?” — days before the 2024 US presidential election. It spliced together three quotes from two sections of the 2021 speech, delivered almost an hour apart, into what appeared to be one quote in which Trump urged supporters to march with him and “fight like hell.” Among the parts cut out was a section where Trump said he wanted supporters to demonstrate peacefully.
Trump said earlier Monday that he was suing the BBC “for putting words in my mouth.”
“They actually put terrible words in my mouth having to do with Jan. 6 that I didn't say, and they're beautiful words that I said, right?" the president said unprompted during an appearance in the Oval Office. "They're beautiful words, talking about patriotism and all of the good things that I said. They didn't say that, but they used terrible words.”
The president's lawsuit was filed in Florida. Deadlines to bring the case in British courts expired more than a year ago.
Legal experts have brought up potential challenges to a case in the US, given that the documentary was not shown in the country.
The lawsuit alleges that people in the US can watch the BBC's original content, including the “Panorama” series, which includes the documentary, by using the subscription streaming platform BritBox or a virtual private network service.
The 103-year-old BBC is a national institution funded through an annual license fee of 174.50 pounds (USD 230) paid by every household that watches live TV or BBC content. Bound by the terms of its charter to be impartial, it typically faces especially intense scrutiny and criticism from both conservatives and liberals.
