StatesKarnataka
Bengaluru court bars spread of Siddaramaiah sting clips as BJP turns on Congress
The former Chief Minister calls the videos defamatory and politically motivated. The BJP says his own party has abandoned him, while H D Kumaraswamy wants a CBI inquiry.
Key points
- A Bengaluru civil court restrained media and platforms from circulating the sting videos on Siddaramaiah.
- His suit names 42 media organisations and platforms including Google, Facebook, WhatsApp and YouTube.
- R Ashoka said Congress had "used and discarded" the former Chief Minister.
A city civil court in Bengaluru on Tuesday stopped the media from spreading a set of disputed sting videos about former Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, as the row over the clips turned into an open fight between the BJP and the ruling Congress.
The court is reported to have passed an interim order barring news outlets and digital platforms from sharing or rebroadcasting the videos, including clips, screenshots and edited versions, and told platforms to block links already online. It issued summons to the respondents and adjourned the case. No final ruling has been made.
What Siddaramaiah wants
Siddaramaiah, a member of the Congress Working Committee, went to court seeking an injunction against the circulation of audio and video clips that he says are defamatory. The clips allege sexual misconduct in 2011. His suit calls the allegations baseless and politically motivated, and asks for a permanent bar against 42 media organisations, among them YouTube channels, newspapers and television networks, as well as Google, Facebook, WhatsApp and YouTube.
The petition says an incident from 2011 has been revived 15 years later with no official complaint, medical record or independent evidence behind it. It refers to a video uploaded on 27 September and a programme titled “State Politics’ Biggest CD Scandal”. Siddaramaiah has also complained to the Bengaluru City Police Commissioner and asked for an impartial investigation.
His son, minister Yathindra Siddaramaiah, said in Mysuru that the allegations were false and a complaint had been filed. “Can we remain silent when false propaganda is being spread?” he said.
Former minister Tanveer Sait, a Congress MLA, said anyone who had done wrong should face the consequences, but that the claims should be investigated and not argued over in public. “Those who have eaten salt must drink water,” he said, using a Kannada saying.
The BJP turns on Congress
Leader of the Opposition R Ashoka said he was speaking “with a heavy heart” and blamed Siddaramaiah’s own party for his situation.
“Today, it is Congress that has caused Siddaramaiah the distress of having to approach the court,” Ashoka told reporters in Bengaluru. “This is an ungrateful and deceitful Congress that has stabbed him in the back. They have used and discarded him.”
Ashoka demanded that an FIR be registered at once over the sting operation. He said the ruling party was more interested in who had commissioned the sting, and accused Chief Minister D K Shivakumar of spending more time in Delhi than in Karnataka while farmers struggled with drought.
Basanagouda Patil Yatnal, a former BJP leader and MLA, has alleged that Siddaramaiah was forced out of the Chief Minister’s post through blackmail.
Union Minister H D Kumaraswamy of the JD(S) went further. He demanded a CBI investigation, accused Shivakumar of encouraging sting operations and said he would take the matter to Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
What comes next
The case will come up again once the respondents have answered the summons. Siddaramaiah’s complaint to the police commissioner is pending.