Defamation case: Karnataka HC stays trial proceedings against Shivakumar
Karnataka High Court
on Friday granted interim relief to Deputy Chief Minister
D K Shivakumar
by staying the trial court proceedings in a criminal
defamation case
filed against him by the State
BJP
unit over "
corruption rate card
" ads.
The court also extended similar relief to the
Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee
(KPCC), which is a co-accused in the matter.
Justice S R Krishna Kumar, who presided over the matter, issued notice to the respondent and made it returnable on July 29, effectively pausing the ongoing proceedings until further directions.
by Taboola
by Taboola
Sponsored Links
Sponsored Links
Promoted Links
Promoted Links
You May Like
Play War Thunder now for free
War Thunder
Play Now
Undo
The defamation case arose after a series of controversial advertisements titled "Corruption Rate Card" were issued by the
Congress
party in the run-up to the 2023
Karnataka Assembly elections
.
The BJP has alleged that these advertisements falsely accused it of institutionalising corruption while in power, claiming that appointments and transfers in government departments came with fixed "rates" and "commissions."
Live Events
According to the BJP, the advertisements--published in local newspapers and promoted online--damaged the party's public image. The BJP has termed the Congress's claims as entirely fabricated and "born out of fanciful imagination."
Of particular contention is the Congress party's reference to the then BJP-led state government as a "trouble engine Sarkar", a wordplay on the BJP or NDA's self-description as a "double engine Sarkar." The BJP has argued that this was a deliberate attempt to ridicule and tarnish the party's image ahead of crucial polls.
The complaint specifically names D K Shivakumar, in his capacity as KPCC President, and
Siddaramaiah
, then the Leader of Opposition, as the individuals responsible for commissioning and approving the advertisements.
It also claims that
Rahul Gandhi
amplified the alleged defamatory content by posting it on his 'X' (formerly Twitter) account.
Earlier this year, in January, the High Court had granted a similar interim stay on the trial proceedings against Rahul Gandhi in connection with the same case.
Senior Advocate K Shashi Kiran Shetty and Advocate Surya Mukundaraj appeared on behalf of Shivakumar. The KPCC was represented by Advocates S A Ahamed and Sanjay B Yadav.
The matter is expected to come up next on July 29, when the High Court will further examine the validity of the defamation proceedings initiated by the BJP.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Time of India
16 minutes ago
- Time of India
Andhra Pradesh government issues new orders on Amaravati land allocation
Vijayawada: The Andhra Pradesh govt issued fresh orders on Sunday regarding the allocation and reallocation of lands in the capital region of Amaravati, marking a strategic move to streamline institutional land use. Acting on the recommendations of the Group of Ministers (GoM), the govt sanctioned land to several new organisations and revised the allotments for others. As part of the latest orders, 32.40 acres of land were allocated to seven new institutions in Amaravati. Notably, the BJP was allotted 2 acres of land for establishing its state office. The income tax department and AP Grameena Bank were allotted 2 acres of land. KIMS was allocated 25 acres of land for the construction of a medical college. These allocations are being made on a 60-year lease basis. Simultaneously, the govt cancelled earlier land allocations to some organisations. These include 0.40 acres allotted to GAIL and 1 acre to Ambica, with the CRDA Commissioner directed to take appropriate follow-up action. Additionally, amendments were made to land allocations for six previously approved institutions. These decisions are part of the implementation of proposals submitted during the 18th Cabinet Sub-Committee on Land Allocation, held on June 23. Subsequent proposals were reviewed and placed before the 50th CRDA Authority meeting on July 5, following which the govt gave its administrative nod. The new orders were issued through GO MS No. 122 by S Suresh Kumar, principal secretary of MA&UD department. These changes reflect the govt's intent to ensure optimal and purposeful use of prime capital region lands. With new institutions gaining ground and non-utilised lands being reclaimed, Amaravati's development is expected to align more closely with the state's administrative and infrastructural goals.
Hindustan Times
16 minutes ago
- Hindustan Times
Pentagon Official at Center of Weapons Pause on Ukraine Wants U.S. to Focus on China
WASHINGTON—Elbridge Colby, the Pentagon's top policy official, wants to refocus the U.S. military on countering China. That has put him at the center of the Trump administration's abrupt moves on providing weapons to Ukraine . It was Colby, a 45-year-old grandson of a former Central Intelligence Agency director, who wrote a memo to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in early June outlining how Ukraine's requests for U.S. weapons could further stretch already depleted Pentagon stockpiles. The memo didn't have a recommendation and was described by a defense official as a tool for assessing how arms deliveries would affect U.S. stockpiles. But some officials in the administration and in Congress say it figured in the Pentagon's decision to suspend some arms shipments to Kyiv, a move President Trump later reversed. The incident exemplifies Colby's push to make good on years of U.S. vows to boost its military position in the Western Pacific, his supporters say. But it also highlights the contrary pressures on an administration that, in its first months in office, has already launched major military operations against Iran and the Houthis in the Middle East while continuing military deliveries to Ukraine. Colby 'has been thinking very deeply about how the United States can best defend itself in an era of constrained resources,' said Dan Caldwell, a former adviser to Hegseth. 'A lot of policymakers have refused to accept that reality.' Colby has turned down interview requests about his views on helping Ukraine and in urging U.S. partners in Asia and Europe to step up their defense efforts. But in a social-media message Saturday, he said that he would continue to press allies to boost their military spending, even if some 'might not welcome frank discussions.' Some of those frank discussions have included pressing Japan and Australia to make clear what military steps they are prepared to take in the event of a Chinese attack on Taiwan, according to a person familiar with the exchanges. Colby's efforts have surprised some officials in the region because the U.S.'s longstanding policy of 'strategic ambiguity' has avoided an explicit statement about what actions Washington might take if Chinese forces moved against Taiwan, and even Trump hasn't spelled out what he would do. Colby's discussions were earlier reported by the Financial Times. In arguing for doubling down on China, Colby is known as a 'prioritizer' who favors limiting U.S. obligations outside Asia to free up resources to counter Beijing. In so doing, he has differentiated himself from 'restrainers' who have urged that the U.S. pull back from overseas commitments, as well as traditional Republican hawks. Though presidents from both parties, starting with Barack Obama, have called for focusing U.S. national security strategy on China, putting the idea into practice has proven difficult, partly due to new threats that have emerged outside Asia and partly due to the Pentagon's longstanding commitments in Europe and the Middle East. Colby's calls to de-emphasize demands on U.S. forces other than in Asia have left him out of step with some Republicans. 'For many years, GOP 'prioritizers' have argued that the United States should not strike Iran or aid Ukraine because it must husband its resources for a possible war with China,' said Matthew Kroenig of the Atlantic Council, who was a national security adviser to the 2012 Mitt Romney and 2016 Marco Rubio presidential campaigns. 'President Trump, in contrast, believes 'America First' requires continued U.S. involvement in multiple regions of the world.' When Trump nominated Colby to serve as undersecretary of defense for policy in December, the fissures among Republicans over national security came to the fore. Colby received a hearty endorsement at his March confirmation hearing from Vice President JD Vance, who has long been a skeptical voice on providing billions of dollars in weapons to Ukraine and has called Colby a friend. Colby was grilled by Sen. Tom Cotton (R., Ark.) about his past statement that it was feasible to contain a nuclear-armed Iran. Colby amended his stance in that confirmation hearing, saying that Iran cannot be allowed to develop nuclear weapons and that he would provide the president with military options to stop it from doing so. Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the only Republican to vote against Colby's confirmation, lambasted him for promoting policies that could lead to 'geostrategic self-harm.' Colby has deep family connections to the foreign policy establishment through his grandfather, former CIA Director William Colby. 'Bridge,' as he is known in Washington, attended school in Japan, where his father worked for an investment bank, before graduating from Harvard University. Colby and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth at a Pentagon meeting with officials from Peru in May. At Yale Law School he was a housemate of Jon Finer, the former deputy national security adviser to President Joe Biden. Even then, Colby's contrarian foreign policy priorities were evident: He was a rare Republican who opposed the war in Iraq. Colby has written that the 2003 Iraq war and the lengthy U.S. occupation was a 'historic error' that squandered vast resources. He argued in a 2012 article against striking Iran's nuclear facilities, saying it would provide Tehran 'every incentive to reboot the program with greater vigor.' As a deputy assistant secretary of defense during Trump's first term, he played a major role in the drafting of the 2018 national defense strategy, which urged a shift from a focus on counterterrorism that the Pentagon adopted after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to countering China and Russia. Colby's role wasn't without turbulence. Trump's defense secretary at the time, retired Marine Gen. Jim Mattis, was frustrated with Colby's emphasis on defending Taiwan, participants recall. 'I think Bridge did a really good job in managing the strategy formulation process,' said Frank Hoffman, a retired Marine colonel who was brought in by Mattis to help draft the strategy document. 'But in making Taiwan the hinge point of our military competition with China, he had a narrower focus than Secretary Mattis on what the strategy needed to do.' Colby elaborated on his views in his 2021 book, 'The Strategy of Denial,' in which he argued that the defense of Taiwan was vital because of its proximity to China, along with Japan and the Philippines, forming what Pentagon strategists refer to as the first island chain in the Western Pacific. His focus on China, he noted in the book, included arguing that Russia could be a 'potential collaborator' with the U.S. in an anti-Beijing coalition. And he warned against including Ukraine in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization because the country was 'highly exposed' to a Russia attack 'while offering no meaningful advantage to the alliance that is remotely comparable to the costs and risk that their defense would impose on it.' But Colby's call for reprioritizing Pentagon strategy was tested after Russia invaded Ukraine the following year and turned to Beijing for help in expanding the Russian defense industry. Instead of dealing with China in isolation, Washington has faced the prospect of simultaneously deterring two geographically disparate adversaries that have been cooperating. Colby is playing a pivotal role in policy debate and the crafting of a new defense strategy that will set spending and force deployment goals for years to come. Some current and former officials who share Colby's goal of boosting American capabilities in the Pacific say he may be better at standing on principle than bringing allies along. Colby has irked Tokyo by urging that it commit to boosting military spending to 3.5% of its gross domestic product, they say. With policy disagreements over military spending and tariffs, Japan put off high-level talks with the U.S. that had been expected in July. A review Colby is conducting of a 2021 agreement—known as Aukus, under which Australia will get nuclear-powered attack submarines from the U.S. while contributing several billion dollars to the U.S. defense-industrial base—has concerned Australian officials. In an interview with Australian television last year, Colby said it would be 'crazy' for the U.S. to provide attack submarines to Australia unless the Pentagon can be assured it would have enough for itself, adding that the U.S. would be 'lucky' to get to the 2030s without a conflict with China. But it was the classified memo that preceded the pause in arms deliveries to Ukraine that especially spotlighted Colby's views. It tallied the numbers of weapons sought by Ukraine along with how many the U.S. has in its stocks for training and warfighting around the world. Trump later told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that he wasn't responsible for the pause in shipments that followed, which he has since lifted. Wess Mitchell, a former senior State Department official who once started a policy organization with Colby called the Marathon Initiative, said the Pentagon official's focus on making tough decisions to deter China is driven by concern that the U.S. is overstretched. 'Bridge has put his finger on the real problem and said 'Let's give priority to the main threat even if that means we have to accept trade-offs in the other regions,' ' Mitchell said. 'People may disagree with his approach, but it is driven by a legitimate concern, which is we don't currently have the resources for a three-front war.' Write to Michael R. Gordon at and Lara Seligman at
Hindustan Times
18 minutes ago
- Hindustan Times
After Op Sindoor feat, Brahmos got many countries' attention: Rajnath
Defence minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday said during the Operation Sindoor, Brahmos Missile played an outstanding role and today 14-15 countries have demanded the missile. Singh said this at an event in Lucknow, his Lok Sabha constituency, where he released a postage stamp dedicated to former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Chandra Bhanu Gupta (1902-1980) at the National PG College. Defence minister Rajnath Singh (centre), UP deputy CM Brajesh Pathak (left) and president, Motilal Memorial Society, Kunwar Ujjwal Raman Singh, who is the Congress MP from Prayagraj, at an event in Lucknow on July 13. (Sourced) On the occasion, he also inaugurated a hall and paid floral tribute to the statue of CB Gupta on his birth anniversary. Gupta served as the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh for three terms. Addressing a gathering, Singh spoke about Gupta's contributions to the state. He described the former CM as an epitome of service, simplicity and honesty who set high standards in politics. During the event, Singh shared a personal anecdote about how Gupta had supported him during his election campaign when he was just 26 and was contesting assembly election from Mirzapur. 'The former CM not only addressed a rally in my support but also provided a financial assistance of ₹5000,' Singh said. The defence minister emphasised that whenever the glorious history of Uttar Pradesh is discussed, Chandra Bhanu Gupta's name is always mentioned prominently. Talking about Operation Sindoor, the Indian Army's operation against Pakistan after the Pahalgam attack in Kashmir, he said: 'During Operation Sindoor, Brahmos Missile achieved a miraculous feat.' 'Now, around 14-15 countries want to have this missile,' Singh said. He added that Brahmos will be produced in Lucknow. Recently, Singh and CM Yogi Adityanath had inaugurated the Brahmos missile facility in the state capital. 'The Brahmos plant will also generate employment for locals,' Singh said. He also pointed out that due to improved law and order situation in the state, no criminal can roam freely today. 'Uttar Pradesh is writing a new chapter today in every aspect, including law and order,' he added. Deputy CM Brajesh Pathak, president, Motilal Memorial Society, Kunwar Ujjwal Raman Singh, who is the Congress MP from Prayagraj and was a minister in the Samajwadi Party government, and president, Bharat Sewa Sansthan, Ashok Vajpayee, a former minister in the state government and former Rajya Sabha MP, were present on the occasion. Besides, BJP MLAs OP Srivastava and Yogesh Shukla, Lucknow mayor Sushma Kharkwal, Rajya Sabha MP Brij Lal, general secretary, Bharat Sewa Sansthan, JN Mishra and general secretary, Motilal Memorial Society, Rajesh Singh were also there. Among others who participated in the event included chief post master general, UP Circle, Pranav Kumar, director postal services, Lucknow, Anand Kumar Singh, district BJP president Anand Dwivedi, BJP MLCs Mukesh Sharma, Mahendra Singh, Ramchandra Pradhan, Diwakar Tripathi, Trilok Singh Adhikari, Raghvendra Shukla and Praveen Garg.
