Karnataka High Court grants interim relief to The News Minute in defamation case by BJP MLA

The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday stayed defamation proceedings filed against news portal The News Minute by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lawmaker LA Ravi Subramanya in 2022 [Spunklane Media Private Limited v. Ravi Subramanya LA and ors]..Justice Hemant Chandangoudar passed the interim order after hearing preliminary submissions by the counsel representing Spunklane Media which runs The News Minute."Petitioner submits that there is no averment in the (defamation) plaint with regard to the alleged defamatory remarks published by the petitioner against the plaintiff (Subramanya). Interim order as prayed for till next date," the Court ordered..The matter concerns a defamation case filed in 2022 by Subramanya against The News Minute and several other media houses (defendants).Besides The News Minute, Subramanya has also sued The Indian Express, The Cognate, Vijaya Karnataka, TV9 Kannada News Channel, Power TV News, the Delhi unit of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), AAP leader Atishi Marlena and one, Srivatsava.Notably, the lead defendant in the matter is an activist named HM Venkatesh, who reportedly released an audio clip in 2021 that allegedly pointed towards a COVID-19 vaccine profiteering scam in Karnataka. According to reports, this clip contained the audio recording of a conversation between Venkatesh and a hospital staff member who indicated that lawmakers were profiteering off the vaccine drive. In this regard, it was alleged that a member of the hospital said that a commission of ₹700 per dose would go to Ravi Subramanya..The News Minute was among the news portals that reported the allegations in 2021. A defamation suit seeking ₹3 crores as compensation was subsequently filed in 2022 by Subramanya against the activist, the hospital to which the staff member allegedly belonged to (Anugraha Vittala Hospital), several media houses and AAP. On November 23, 2023, the trial court rejected an application filed by The News Minute to reject the defamation plaint. The defamation case remains pending before an Additional City Civil and Sessions Judge in Bengaluru. The case was last listed on August 24, when it was adjourned till September 20 since the presiding officer was not available. .In February this year, Spunklane Media filed the present civil revision plea before the High Court through advocate Pradeep Nayak of Keystone Partners questioning the correctness of the trial court's November 2023 interim order. .This trial court order was mechanically passed, The News Minute asserted in its plea. As interim relief, the petitioner urged the High Court to stay further trial court proceedings until the disposal of the civil revision petition. .The news portal's counsel, advocate Sankeerth Vittal of Keystone Partners told the Court today that Subramanya's plaint merely claimed that there was a "conspiracy" to defame him, but did not have even a line as to which media report was defamatory."(Defamation plaint) only says 'aforesaid programme' is to injure reputation ... No mention of what 'programme' it is," he said. .None appeared for Subramanya today. The matter will be heard next in September..[Read Order]