Dharmasthala case: High Court lifts gag order on media, rejects lower court's ex-parte injunction
Bengaluru: The Karnataka High Court has quashed the ex-parte injunction issued by a lower trial court that had barred media outlets from publishing or broadcasting any news related to D. Harshendra Kumar in connection with the ongoing Dharmasthala case, where allegations were made about the burial of hundreds of dead bodies.
Justice M. Nagaprasanna of the High Court partially upheld the petition filed by Ajay, the editor-in-chief of the YouTube channel Kudla Rampage, who had challenged the injunction. The trial court's order dated July 8, 2025, which imposed a sweeping media gag, was set aside.
The case will now be remanded back to the competent lower court to consider the interim petition filed by Kumar, taking into account the observations made by the High Court. The single-judge bench stated that the trial court must urgently decide on the interim plea and that all parties are free to argue their respective claims. The High Court made no remarks on the merits of the civil suit, criminal proceedings, or the specific allegations and counter-allegations involved in the case.
The court directed all involved parties, including Ajay and others, to cooperate fully with the lower court, emphasising that only one specific element of the original injunction order had been considered at this stage. A detailed copy of the High Court’s order is awaited.
D. Harshendra Kumar had filed a civil suit in the Additional City Civil and Sessions Court in Bengaluru, seeking to restrain the publication or sharing of 8,842 links across multiple platforms. These included 4,140 YouTube videos, 932 Facebook posts, 3,584 Instagram posts, 108 news articles, 37 Reddit threads, and 41 tweets, all of which he claimed were defamatory.
Despite not being named in the FIR lodged based on a sanitation worker’s complaint, Kumar argued that false and defamatory statements targeting him, his family, and his institutions were being widely circulated on digital and mainstream media. In response, the lower court had issued an ex-parte gag order on July 8, restraining all media houses and unknown individuals from publishing or disseminating such content until further proceedings.
This blanket ban was subsequently challenged in the High Court by Kudla Rampage, leading to Friday’s ruling lifting the restriction.
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Power tariffs under BESCOM to rise from May 1
Bengaluru (PTI): Power bills for consumers under the Bangalore Electricity Supply Company Limited (BESCOM) will go up from May 1, following an order issued by the Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission (KERC) on Friday.
The hike comes after KERC allowed the BESCOM to recover a revenue deficit of Rs 2,068 crore incurred in 2024-25, from the consumers.
As a result, for every unit of electricity consumed in 2024-25, the customers will be charged an additional 56 paise, it said.
"BESCOM shall calculate, for each of the active consumers of FY2024-25 the amount to be recovered based on their actual energy consumption during FY2024-25. Such amount shall be recovered during FY 2026-27 in equal monthly instalments, to be called as 'FY25 True up Charges', commencing from the first meter reading date falling on or after 1 May 2026 and concluding with the reading date ending on 30 April 2027," the order said.
"It is further ordered that BESCOM shall maintain a separate head of account, allocated for the purpose, to record the adjustment of the said amount to ensure full recovery of the deficit," it added.
Similarly Chamundeshwari Electricity Supply Corporation Limited (CESC) has also recorded a revenue deficit of Rs 121.71 crore and can collect an additional 15 paisa per unit for consumption in 2024-25, official sources said.
