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Dharmasthala: Judge who passed gag order recuses himself as defendant points to conflict of interest

Decision comes after a media professional questioned Judge Vijaya Kumar Rai B’s association with the family of the petitioner, Harshendra Kumar.

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Bengaluru: The judge who passed a gag order against the publishing of any news against Veerendra Heggade, the Rajya Sabha MP and Dharmadhikari of the Dharmasthala temple, has recused himself from hearing the case linked to “mass burials”.

The decision was taken after one defendant, a media professional, questioned Judge Vijaya Kumar Rai B’s association with the family of the petitioner, Harshendra Kumar.

Judge Vijaya Kumar Rai B of the 10th Additional City and Civil Sessions Court in Bengaluru has placed the case filed by Veerendra Heggade’s brother Harshendra Kumar before the Principal City Civil Sessions Judge for necessary orders, according to court documents accessed by ThePrint.

Senior journalist Naveen Sooranje, who approached the court on his personal accord, pointed out that Vijaya Kumar was a student of the Dharmasthala management-run SDM Law College between 1995 and 1998. In his letter to his counsel, the journalist also points to the judge’s law practice under another senior advocate who appeared for the petitioner’s family.

“Without stating anything with regard to the merits of the memo, and the letter enclosed to it, it is a matter of fact that around 25 years back the presiding officer of this court was the student of SDM Law College managed by family members of the plaintiff,” judge Vijaya Kumar said in his daily orders.

The presiding officer of the city civil court, he said, “had neither seen the plaintiff nor spoken to him either directly or indirectly at any point of time.” The judge further added that he has no personal interest.

The next hearing is scheduled 5 August.

There are multiple such cases filed by media platforms and others who have have challenged the injunction order granted to Harshendra Kumar after allegations of mass-burials, murder and rape surfaced in the temple town of Dharmasthala, about 300 km from Bengaluru.

In July, a gag order was passed in which over 300 media channels, activists and others were ordered to remove nearly 9,000 links to stories on the alleged mass-burials, rape and murder in the temple town of Dharmasthala. Defendants have approached the Supreme Court and later the Karnataka High Court for relief.

On Friday, the Karnataka High Court quashed the ex-parte gag order partially as it lifted restrictions on ‘Kudla Rampage’, a YouTube channel.

Justice M. Nagaprasanna observed that the gag order passed by the trial court “granted a mandatory sweeping injunction”. In the orders passed on 1 August, Justice Nagaprasanna states that the ‘John Doe/Ashok Kumar’ order must be “wielded with great care and judicious foresight”.

“The order speaks of prohibition of defamatory statements. Not one word of what kind of statements are defamatory for the court to pass the aforequoted order is found in the order. There is no semblance of reason for the ultimate relief that is granted,” according to the order.

(Edited by Tony Rai)


Also Read: Dharmasthala mass burial probe: Partial skeletal remains found at 6th site on day 3 of search


 

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