A local court in Bengaluru has issued a temporary injunction against the media, along with members of the Khoday family, directing them not to share any defamatory material against Advocate Suraj Patil, son of Karnataka Lokayukta Justice B.S. Patil.
The temporary injunction was passed by Additional Judge Sadananda Nagappa Naik at the Bangalore City Civil and Sessions Court on a suit filed by Advocate Patil, seeking permanent injunction against the defendants from sharing defamatory content against him and his family.
The court noted that the petitioner had made out a case for issuance of ad-interim injunction against 26 media companies and five members of the Khoday family, including Chandraprabha, Satyaprabha, Savitri, Swamiprabha, M.M. Ananthamurthy. The injunction was also issued against two others.
Advocate Patil contended in the suit that he was tricked by the Khoday family and two others into representing the family in a partition suit. Allegedly, the family withheld from him that the suit he was filing was the second one and not the first one.
Appearing for Advocate Patil, Advocate Sheela Krishna alleged that when her client tried to withdraw his services, the defendants forced him to continue and obtain a favourable order, otherwise, they would have him killed.
The plea further alleged that when the petitioner finally withdrew his services, the defendants circulated edited images and audio clippings of him among his friends, his family and even the media, which led to his wife suffering a miscarriage.
Seeking permanent injunction, the petitioner contended that if temporary injunction was not granted, the purpose of the suit would stand defeated.
The Additional Judge determined that an ad interim injunction was necessary in the suit and directed the defendants, including media companies, not to circulate defamatory content against Patil till the next date of hearing.
Besides, the court directed video sharing platform YouTube and social media giant Facebook to take down links with the alleged defamatory material.
(Case title: Suraj Patil vs Chandraprabha and Ors)