Bengaluru court stays release of book about Congress leader and former CM Siddaramaiah

A Bengaluru court on Monday granted an interim injunction in favour of Congress leader and former Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s son in a suit against the release of book Siddu Nijakanasugalu - Samputa -1 by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Ashwathnarayan CN and others [Yathindra Siddararnaiah v Dr CN Ashwathnarayan]..An Additional City Civil and Sessions Judge granted an injunction till the next date of hearing restraining the defendants from posting defamatory statements against the plaintiffs."Issue ad-interim injunction against defendant No.1 to 7 restraining them, their men, agents or anybody by themselves or on their behalf from issuing/ hosting defamatory statement of any sought in connection with any matter against the plaintiff to the the print media or the electronic media and from publishing packaging, releasing, offering for sale, selling and displaying “Siddu Nija Kanasugalu” book till next date of hearing”, the court ordered..The Court further directed intermediaries such as Amazon and Flipkart to remove the defamatory content and stop sale of the book, while seeking a response in the plea from the defendants. .The suit was filed by Siddaramaiah's son, Yathindra Siddaramaiah, who is a sitting Member of Karnataka Legislative Assembly (MLA) and a member of the Indian National Congress. .Yathindra Siddaramaiah filed the suit seeking a permanent injunction stating that the book had been printed without the consent of his father and contained defamatory content about him.“It is required to be noted that the said book has absolutely no consent of the plaintiffs' father even though the said book is based on the plaintiffs' father,” the plea stated..Further, it was contented that the sole intention of the book was to harass and defame Siddaramaiah and show him in poor light.“It is submitted that the false, reckless and irresponsible statements & actions that can be caused by the release/ publish of the said book would create a situation of grave and irreparable injury to the person and reputation of the plaintiff and degraded his reputation, integrity and dignity,” the Court noted..According to the plaint, the political career and the life of the plaintiff and his family members would be adversely affected due to the false insinuations.Taking these submissions into account, the trial court found that a case had been made out for dispensation of notice and an interim injunction."The plaintiff has made out the ground for dispensation of prior notice on I.A No.I and also made out a ground for issuance of ad interim injunction," the Court ordered..[Read Order]