The Bengaluru court docket choose who issued a gag order on media experiences towards the household of the Sree Dharmasthala Manjunatheshwara temple administration in Karnataka’s Dakshina Kannada, in reference to investigations into alleged secret burials within the area, has recused himself from listening to the case.
The recusal comes within the wake of an software by a journalist indicating that the choose is an alumni of an establishment operated by the temple administration. On Monday, the principal periods choose allowed the tenth further metropolis civil and periods choose Vijaya Kumar Rai to recuse himself from listening to the unique swimsuit filed by Harshendra Kumar D on behalf of the household.
“Pursuant to the request made by this court docket to switch this swimsuit to every other court docket, the Honourable Principal Metropolis Civil and Classes Choose has withdrawn this swimsuit and transferred to the court docket of XVII Further Metropolis Civil and Classes Choose, Bengaluru, for disposal in accordance with regulation as per the notification…dated 04.08.2025,” choose Rai stated in an order on Monday.
“In view of this, the registry shall ahead your complete data of this case to the XVII Addl.Metropolis Civil and Session Choose, Bengaluru (CCH-16),” he stated.
The choose had handed a gag order on media experiences in regards to the members of the family of the temple administration amid a public controversy that has gripped the temple city following a former sanitation employee’s allegations that he was pressured to bury a number of lifeless our bodies within the area through the 1995-2014 interval.
The Karnataka Excessive Court docket had additionally not too long ago referred the July 18 gag order of the civil court docket again to the court docket on account of its blanket nature, moderately than merely proscribing defamatory reporting towards the Sree Dharmasthala temple administration.
The recusal comes after journalist Naveen Soorinje, who’s defendant quantity 25 of the 240 media shops and activists named within the swimsuit, indicated a battle of curiosity for the court docket on account of the choose having studied at SDM Regulation Faculty 25 years in the past.
Story continues under this advert
Earlier, the Bengaluru civil court docket had granted an ex parte injunction to “delete/de-index” a complete of 8,812 hyperlinks on numerous platforms associated to the Dharmasthala secret burials case. The injunction order on July 18 was primarily based on a petition filed by Harshendra Kumar D, brother of BJP MP D Veerendra Heggade and secretary of the Shri Dharmasthala Manjunatheshwara Instructional Society.
The petition had sought instructions to “take away/delete/deindex the unverified false, baseless, reckless and defamatory allegations” towards the plaintiff, his brother Heggade and his members of the family, the temple, and the establishments run by them.
On August 1, the Karnataka Excessive Court docket quashed the gag order with regards to the Mangaluru-based on-line media channel Kudla Rampage, stating that the civil court docket “has ventured to grant a sweeping obligatory injunction, a reduction which ordinarily should await the fruits of the trial.”