Approached court for injunction to prevent hit-and-run smear campaign: Karnataka Ministers
Bengaluru: Karnataka Ministers, who moved a court here seeking injunction against the media from publishing or airing anything 'defamatory or unauthenticated' against them, on Saturday said it was a precautionary measure against a 'big political conspiracy' targeting them.
They also indicated that more Ministers may take similar steps.
Six Ministers of Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa-led BJP government had on Friday approached the court of the additional city civil and sessions judge seeking injunction, and the order is likely today.
The Ministers are Labour Minister Shivaram Hebbar, Agriculture Minister B C Patil, Cooperation Minister S T Somashekar, Health and Family Welfare, and Medical Education minister K Sudhakar, Youth Empowerment and Sports Minister K C Narayana Gowda and Urban Development Minister Bhyrathi Basavaraj.
Health Minister Sudhakar alleged that there seems to be a big political conspiracy to defame them by misusing the media, and that they have approached court to prevent this hit-and- run smear campaign.
Pointing to the conspiracy to tarnish the image of individuals and destroy the goodwill gained from years of good work, he told reporters here that it was necessary to put an end to it and the government is also mulling bringing a law to check this kind of mischief.
Both mainstream media and social media platforms are being misused to broadcast misinformation and fake news
He further said if there is truth in the allegations, no one can be protected, culprits must be punished, but smear campaign to tarnish image and goodwill is not acceptable.
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, today another six may 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 the media.
Noting that those who have approached the court are in politics for years now, and that they can be defamed in seconds by creating something, he further said, "We will get to know in two to three days about who is behind it, then we will hold a press conference and explain the reason for moving the court...
we will also inform the Chief Minister and party President."
Agriculture Minister B C Patil pointing out that he has grown in politics without any godfather, and some people are not able to digest it, in a tweet said, with apprehensions about an attempt to defame us as part of political conspiracy by some conspirators, we have approached the court as precautionary measure.
Speaking to reporters here, Minister Byrathi Basavaraj said they have approached court as there is a conspiracy being hatched against them.
"...we have not done anything wrong."
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 these Ministers and had become a minister.
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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.
