The Karnataka high court on Friday set aside the media gag imposed by a Bengaluru civil court in connection with the Dharmasthala mass burial case.
Justice M Nagaprasanna passed the order while allowing a petition filed by YouTube channel Kudla Rampage, which had challenged the lower court’s directive that barred media houses, YouTube channels and others from publishing "defamatory content" against the family managing the Dharmasthala Temple.
“The application filed by Kudla Rampage Editor-in-Chief Ajay is partially allowed. The impugned ex parte injunction order passed by the trial court on 8.7.2025 is quashed. The case is being sent back to the competent court for fresh consideration of the interlocutory application,” the high court observed.
“The trial court should take note of the points made in this order. The competent court should decide the case expeditiously. This court has not expressed any opinion on the civil suit, criminal proceedings, charges, counter-charges. All arguments between the parties are kept open except for one point considered in the order,” it added.
The civil court gag order had been issued on a petition filed by Harshendra Kumar D, brother of Dharmasthala Dharmadhikari Veerendra Heggade. Kumar had approached the court after several news reports surfaced, following allegations by a sanitation worker claiming he had buried multiple bodies in Dharmasthala.
Citing potential for irreparable harm and reputational damage, X Additional City Civil and Sessions Judge Vijaya Kumar Rai had restrained the defendants and unknown persons from posting or sharing any defamatory material across digital, social or print media until the next hearing.
In his defamation suit, Kumar submitted a list of 8,842 online links to the court. This included 4,140 YouTube videos, 932 Facebook posts, 3,584 Instagram posts, 108 news articles, 37 Reddit posts and 41 tweets.
Kudla Rampage subsequently moved the high court challenging the trial court’s ex parte injunction, leading to the Friday ruling.
