Newsminute parent company moves Karnataka HC against gag order in Dharmasthala burials case

With regard to this case, Spunklane Media has stated in its petition that despite the respondent knowing that it was a distinct entity, it was not made a party to the suit, as a strategy to secure an ex-parte injunction order without having an opportunity for Newsminute to contest the same. It also stated that its coverage of the issue had been based on fair reporting.

Online media outlet Kudla Rampage had also contested the gag order, which was quashed by the high court as far as it applied to Kudla Rampage. Justice M Nagaprasanna had then stated in the order, “The impugned order… while ostensibly couched as an interim measure, in truth and effect, partakes the character of a final determination. The concerned Court, at the threshold and without the benefit of adversarial hearing, has ventured to grant a sweeping mandatory injunction, a relief which ordinarily ought to await the culmination of the trial.”

Spunklane Media has also challenged an order passed on March 22 on similar lines, stating that it was part of a “systematic pattern” across multiple courts in order to obtain ex-parte orders that had an effect of stifling the right to freedom of speech.