KV Stanley, co-founder of Mysuru-based NGO Odanadi Seva Samsthe, has filed a police complaint against Udupi-based journalist Vasanth Giliyar, accusing him of spreading communal unrest and personally targeting him. According to Stanley’s complaint, Giliyar had alleged that Stanley – being a Christian – wouldn't “hesitate to break Hindu temples”.
In his complaint filed at Vijayanagar Police Station, Stanley alleged that Giliyar made remarks on social media, television channels, and in public forums portraying him as being against Hinduism. He said these statements amounted to character assassination and provocation between communities.
Stanley, who has been working for over 35 years to combat the exploitation of women and children through Odanadi, has also been actively involved in campaigns seeking justice for Sowjanya, the 17-year-old girl who was raped and murdered in Dharmasthala. The NGO has previously assisted survivors who came forward in Lingayat seer Shivamuruga rape case and held protests across the state demanding justice for survivors in the Prajwal Revanna sexual assault case.
The complaint filed by Stanley stated that Gilliyar was spreading a rumor in the society that ‘Stanley said Dharmasthala should be attacked like a pig’. “By doing so, he is provoking religious sentiments between different faiths and is inciting one section of the society against me. Vasanth Giliyar has also committed personal defamation. He is creating caste and religion-based strife and riots that could endanger the lives of those sheltered by the Odanadi organisation. Legal action should be taken against Vasanth Giliyar for jeopardising peaceful life and life security.”
Stanley further alleged that while Odanadi has been conducting lawful protests demanding justice for Sowjanya, Giliyar has sought to communalise the issue by identifying him as a Christian and claiming he is out “to destroy Hindu Hindu religion and its temples”.
Following the complaint, police registered an FIR against Vasanth Giliyar, charging him for promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, language, etc, and for publishing and circulating false information, rumours and alarming news.
Vasant Giliyar has, since the beginning of the controversy surrounding the Dharmasthala mass burial case, defended the temple administration. He has appeared in multiple television debates backing the temple authorities and calling for an NIA probe into the case.