After Jarkiholi Video Leak, 6 Ministers Seek Injunction Order Against Media

The controversial CD case involving Ramesh Jarkiholi seems to have shaken half of the Karnataka Cabinet. Six ministers from the BS Yediyurappa government have moved a city civil court with an injunction petition, stopping media from airing/printing/publishing any defamatory content against them.

The six ministers are Health and Medical Education Minister K Sudhakar, Municipal Administration Minister KC Narayan Gowda, Labour Minister Shivaram Hebbar, Agriculture Minister BC Patil, Cooperation Minister HT Somashekar, and Urban Development Minister Byarathi Basavaraj. The petition is filed against 67 media organisation and also social activist Rajashekar Mulaliyan.

Interestingly, these six ministers were also among the 17, including Jarkiholi that jumped ship from the JDS-Congress coalition that helped bring the BJP to power in the State. The ministers have now acknowledged that they had to take this step as a precautionary measure.

Health Minister K Sudhakar confirmed that six ministers had approached court and others were likely to do so soon.

“We have sought an anticipatory injunction against illicit and false, fabricated information that is being put out. There is a conspiracy to malign our image as we are working efficiently, hence we have called for an injunction against spreading false news. Such challenges are common for us in public life… As long as our conscience is clear and we have blessings of the people, these tactics will not succeed,” Sudhakar tweeted.

BC Patil tweeted, “I am a farmer’s son, I had no godfather in politics, we had to approach courts as a precautionary measure as our reputation is on the line and can’t be destroyed due to vested interests”

Jarkiholi was forced to tender his resignation on March 3 after video clips of him getting intimate with a woman surfaced. The videos were leaked to the media by a social activist named Dinesh Kalahalli who alleged that the minister demanded sexual favours from an unidentified woman in exchange for a job.