Court stays release of alleged defamatory book on Siddaramaiah

A city court on Monday passed ad-interim injunction restraining the sale of the book Siddu Nija Kanasugalu- Samputa-1. Additional City Civil and Sessions Judge passed the order in the petition (original suit) filed by Yathindra Siddaramaiah, son of former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. The court adjourned the case to February 9, 2023.

The petition stated that a pamphlet and tweet, which were in circulation in social media, stated that higher education minister C N Ashwathanarayan will be releasing the book on January 9 at Town Hall. The pamphlet also had the names of BJP MLC Chalavadi Narayanaswamy, as the chief guest of the programme, and Rohit Chakrateertha, Santosh Thammaiah, Vrishank Bhat and Rakesh Shetty.

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The court passed the ad-interim injunction against all these defendants restraining them, their men, agents or anybody by themselves or their behalf from issuing/hosting defamatory statement of any sort in connection with any matter against Yatheendra to the print media or the electronic media and from publishing, packaging, releasing, offering for sale, selling and displaying Siddu Nija Kanasugalu book till the next date of hearing. The court also directed two other defendants, Flipkart and Amazon (intermediaries), to remove the defamatory contents and sale of the book upon receipt of the links of the order to be provided by the plaintiff.

It was stated in the suit that the book was printed without a written consent, either from Yathindra or from his father. It was alleged that the book contains defamatory statements against Siddaramaiah. The suit claimed that if the book is released, the image of Yathindra will be spoiled and also hurt the sentiments of the followers of the former Chief Minister. It was further stated that the plaintiff and his family members are on the verge of facing unnecessary humiliation and mental agony if baseless allegations are made in public.

The pamphlet in circulation stated that the book Siddu Nija Kanasugalu- Samputa-1, written by one VKP, will be released at Town Hall at 3 pm. The plaintiff submitted a copy of the tweet with the pamphlet, posted by higher education minister Ashwathanarayan.