NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to consider a plea challenging a sweeping gag order that restrained media houses from reporting on matters related to the brother of Dharamadhikari D Veerendra Heggade of Dharamsthala in Karnataka.
The gag order issued by a Bengaluru court related to reports on alleged murder of women in Dharmasthala in the state's Dakshina Kannada district.
The plea challenged validity of an ex parte interim order. It questioned the legality of the directive which ordered as many as 390 media houses to remove nearly 9,000 links and stories related to the Dharamsthala burial case.
A bench of Chief Justice of India B R Gavai and Justices K Vinod Chandran and Joymalya Bagchi asked the petitioner to approach the Karnataka High Court.
The gag order was passed in a defamation suit filed by Harshendra Kumar, Secretary of Sri Manjunathaswamy Temple institutions, who highlighted the spread of allegedly false and defamatory content online, despite there being no specific allegations against him or the temple authorities in any FIR.
Karnataka constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the allegations.
The plea assailed the restraint on the publication of any defamatory content against Harshendra Kumar D, brother of Dharmasthala Dharmadhikari Veerendra Heggade, in relation to the Dharmasthala temple burial case.
