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Indian Express
3 days ago
- Politics
- Indian Express
Dharmasthala ‘secret burials': Judge who issued media gag order recuses from hearing case
The Bengaluru court judge who issued a gag order on media reports against the family of the Sree Dharmasthala Manjunatheshwara temple administration in Karnataka's Dakshina Kannada, in connection with investigations into alleged secret burials in the region, has recused himself from hearing the case. The recusal comes in the wake of an application by a journalist indicating that the judge is an alumni of an institution operated by the temple administration. On Monday, the principal sessions judge allowed the 10th additional city civil and sessions judge Vijaya Kumar Rai to recuse himself from hearing the original suit filed by Harshendra Kumar D on behalf of the family. 'Pursuant to the request made by this court to transfer this suit to any other court, the Honourable Principal City Civil and Sessions Judge has withdrawn this suit and transferred to the court of XVII Additional City Civil and Sessions Judge, Bengaluru, for disposal in accordance with law as per the notification…dated 04.08.2025,' judge Rai said in an order on Monday. 'In view of this, the registry shall forward the entire records of this case to the XVII Civil and Session Judge, Bengaluru (CCH-16),' he said. The judge had passed a gag order on media reports about the family members of the temple administration amid a public controversy that has gripped the temple town following a former sanitation worker's allegations that he was forced to bury several dead bodies in the region during the 1995-2014 period. The Karnataka High Court had also recently referred the July 18 gag order of the civil court back to the court on account of its blanket nature, rather than merely restricting defamatory reporting against the Sree Dharmasthala temple administration. The recusal comes after journalist Naveen Soorinje, who is defendant number 25 of the 240 media outlets and activists named in the suit, indicated a conflict of interest for the court on account of the judge having studied at SDM Law College 25 years ago. Earlier, the Bengaluru civil court had granted an ex parte injunction to 'delete/de-index' a total of 8,812 links on various platforms related to the Dharmasthala secret burials case. The injunction order on July 18 was based on a petition filed by Harshendra Kumar D, brother of BJP MP D Veerendra Heggade and secretary of the Shri Dharmasthala Manjunatheshwara Educational Society. The petition had sought directions to 'remove/delete/deindex the unverified false, baseless, reckless and defamatory allegations' against the plaintiff, his brother Heggade and his family members, the temple, and the institutions run by them. On August 1, the Karnataka High Court quashed the gag order with reference to the Mangaluru-based online media channel Kudla Rampage, stating that the civil court 'has ventured to grant a sweeping mandatory injunction, a relief which ordinarily ought to await the culmination of the trial.'
Indian Express
19-07-2025
- Politics
- Indian Express
Dharmasthala ‘secret burials': Karnataka govt awaits preliminary police report before setting up SIT
The Karnataka Government will await a preliminary investigation report by the state police into a former sanitation worker's claims of carrying out secret burials of several dead bodies in the Dharmasthala region, before deciding on constituting a Special Investigation Team (SIT) for a detailed probe, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has stated. The statement comes amid increasing pressure to set up an SIT to carry out the investigation in Dharmasthala, a religious town where the much-revered Sree Dharmasthala Manjunatheshwara temple is located. The temple is managed by Jain dharmadhikari and BJP-nominated Rajya Sabha MP Veerendra Heggade. 'We are not going to bow to pressure, we will take action as per the law, irrespective of the demands made by people, including retired judges… If an SIT is required, it will be constituted,' Siddaramaiah said Friday. Adding that a decision has not yet been taken on constituting an SIT, the chief minister said, 'The police department will submit a report and a decision will be taken based on the report. This person (who claims to have conducted the secret burials) who had disappeared for 10 years, has given a voluntary statement in court under section 164 (of the Criminal Procedure Code)… He has said that he will point out the locations of the burials.' Siddaramaiah's statement came a day after a delegation of lawyers met him seeking a comprehensive probe into the alleged secret burials. Retired Supreme Court judge V Gopala Gowda also sought an SIT probe in a press conference this week. The lawyers' delegation told the chief minister that it has been three weeks since a police complaint was registered following the revelations but the police are yet to make headway in the investigation. 'An inference can be drawn on the extent of influence exerted over the probe,' Gowda said. As per the former sanitation worker, he buried dozens of unidentified bodies in Dakshina Kannada district's Dharmasthala between 1998 and 2014. A First Information Report (FIR) was registered at Dharmasthala police station on July 4 under section 211(a) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, which put the onus on the complainant to furnish all details regarding the allegations. He appeared before a magistrate's court in Belthangady on July 11 to provide a statement to substantiate the allegations in the FIR. As per a statement by the Dakshina Kannada police, the complainant said he had 'disposed of several bodies, and is currently suffering from guilty consciousness', and agreed to locate the burial spots if protection is provided to him and his family.' The complainant said he witnessed some murders committed in a 'cruel manner' and was forced to dispose of the bodies. As per the current complaint, the man fled to a neighbouring state after 2014, fearing threats to himself and his family. He has requested police protection, exhumation of the bodies, and an investigation into the alleged deaths, claiming that 'powerful people' were behind it. He also alleged that a girl in his family was sexually harassed at a local school in Dharmasthala by a Physical Education teacher, and his entire family was forced to flee the area. After the former sanitation worker recorded his statement before the court, a 60-year-old woman has come forward to lodge a complaint stating that her daughter, a medical student, had gone missing in 2003 in Dharmasthala, and sought to locate her remains. 'The investigating officers have submitted a report to the court requesting permission to conduct brain mapping, lie detector, and narco analysis tests, if the witness (whistleblower) agrees,' the Dakshina Kannada police stated this week. 'At whatever stage of the investigation, the investigating officer determines that exhumation is appropriate, the exhumation process will be conducted following the appropriate legal process,' it added.
