Kannada actor Chetan Kumar files defamation suit against Labour Minister Arbail Shivram Hebbar, seeks compensation of Re. 1

Kannada actor Chetan Kumar has filed a defamation suit before the City Civil Court in Bengaluru against Karnataka Labour Minister Arbail Shivram Hebbar seeking compensation of Re 1.

On June 24, the Additional City Civil and Sessions Judge issued notice to the respondent.

As per the suit filed by Kumar through law firm Manju & Manju Associates, he had, on three different occasions, posted tweets criticising the caste system as well as Brahminism, wherein he quoted Dr Ambedkar and Periyar.

Thereafter, Pavan Kumar Sharma, the President of pro-Brahmin forum Vipra Yuva Vedike, filed a complaint in Bangalore's Basavanagudi Police Station against Kumar for allegedly committing offences of hurting religious sentiments of Hindus as a whole and insulting their beliefs by commenting on social media platforms like Facebook, YouTube and Instagram.

The police then registered a case against Kumar for the offences punishable under Section 153B and 295A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

The suit stated that Hebbar, who is a Member of Legislative Assembly and Minister for Labour in the Government of Karnataka, posted a tweet criticizing and condemning the tweets posted by Kumar. Hebbar further suggested that Kumar's activism was motivated by financial gain.

In this regard, the suit said that the plaintiff is not only a personality from the movie industry, but is also sincerely committed to social work. By making the aforesaid statement, Hebbar has portrayed Kumar in false light and deprived him of his reputation, the suit stated.

"In other words the said portion of the defamatory tweet was made on 11.06.2021 which contained baseless, shocking statements against the Plaintiff, which have seriously jeopardized the reputation of the Plaintiff in the Society. The said tweet has no iota of truth and has been tweeted without verification of facts, knowingly with malicious intentions, solely with a view to disturb the peace of mind of the Plaintiff and tarnish his image, integrity and honesty before the public at large," it was stated.

Therefore, the actor sought the following reliefs:

• direct the defendant to pay to the Plaintiff a sum of Rs.1 or such other sum as the Court may deem as just,

• direct the Defendant to post/publish a complete and unconditional apology to the Plaintiff in his tweet for having posted portion of defamatory statement in his tweet on 11.6.2021,

• for a permanent injunction restraining the defendant by himself, his respective servants and agents, executors from in any manner holding any press conference or publishing, printing, circulating, distributing any press notes posting in social Media which is in any manner defamatory of the Plaintiff and/or his family members.