After Prajwal, Eshwarappa's son Kantesh gets restraining order against media outlets
Court issues restraining order against 50 media outlets, including social media platforms, from publishing any news, photos or scenes defamatory of petitioner
By : The Federal
Update: 2024-05-01 09:55 GMT
Suspended senior BJP leader KS Eshwarappa's son, KE Kantesh, has got a restraining order from the court to prevent media outlets from publishing any defamatory report, video, photo against him, in the wake of Prajwal Revanna's obscene videos scandal.
Eshwarappa, who is contesting as an independent candidate from Shimoga Lok Sabha constituency, has been suspended for six years. The BJP suspended him since Eshwarappa, who was unhappy with the BJP leadership for denying his son a ticket from Haveri Lok Sabha constituency in South Karnataka, decided to fight this election on his own.
The former BJP veteran had blamed Karnataka BJP president BY Vijayendra and his father and veteran party leader BS Yediyurappa for his Kantesh being denied the ticket.
Curb on 50 media outlets
The 11th CCH court, which reviewed the application submitted by Kantesh, issued a restraining order against 50 outlets spanning print, visual and social media platforms including internet, Facebook, WhatsApp and YouTube. Also, the court issued notices to all 50 defendants in the case and adjourned the hearing to August 3.
After listening to the petitioner's argument, the court ordered, "Until further orders, no news, photos or scenes that are derogatory or defamatory of the petitioner shall be broadcast."
The petitioner's lawyer told the media that "there is a deliberate attempt to smear his name during the Lok Sabha elections". "Therefore, we want the court to ban the broadcast of any kind of obscene audio, video and photos."
Prajwal Revanna scandal
This restraining order comes just after videos of Prajwal Revanna, grandson of former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda, showing him allegedly sexually abusing and exploiting women, went viral. These videos were purportedly leaked by his former driver Karthik and pen drives containing these videos and images were strewn around in public places in Hassan and nearby areas.
Revanna is the sitting MP of Hassan Lok Sabha constituency, and he has again contested from there on a JD(S)-BJP ticket.
After the controversy erupted, Revanna fled to Germany. A SIT probe into the pen drive scandal is on.
This article was originally published in The Federal Karnataka.