Follow TNM's WhatsApp channel for news updates and story links.
The Principal City Civil and Sessions Judge of Bengaluru Urban district has transferred the Dharmasthala mass burials gag order case to another court. The move comes after a journalist and one of the respondents in the case pointed out that the judge who was hearing the case had earlier worked in a law firm that represented Veerendra Heggade.
The case in question had been filed by D Harshendra Kumar, brother of Dharmasthala Dharmadhikari D Veerendra Heggade, on July 18, seeking a gag order over the Dharmasthala mass burials. Judge Vijaya Kumar Rai B, who presides over the 10th Additional City and Civil Sessions Court, passed an order on the very day that the case was registered, directing the removal of 8,842 links published by 338 individual parties regarding the Dharmasthala mass burials.
On July 24, journalist Naveen Soorinje and activists Muneer Katipalla and Bairappa Harish Kumar jointly challenged the gag order in the same court.
On August 2, Naveen Soorinje wrote a letter to their advocate S Balan, saying that Judge Vijaya Kumar Rai B had studied in SDM Law College, Mangaluru, which was run by the Dharmasthala Manjunatheshwara Trust. He also pointed out that Judge Rai had worked as a junior lawyer at a law firm headed by PP Hegde, which had represented Veerendra Heggade in several cases.
Advocate Balan filed a memo attaching his client’s letter and sought the transfer of the case to another court. Judge Rai said that he had neither seen nor spoken to Harshendra Kumar either directly or indirectly at any point of time.
He then placed the file before the Principal City Civil and Sessions Judge Under Section 13(2)(b) of the Bangalore City Civil Court Act.
Section 13 of the Act says that judges of a city civil court cannot try any suit or proceedings “to which they are a party or in which he is personally interested” or any case arising out of such cases. Section 13(2)(b) specifies that if such a case comes up before a judge, the case must be placed before the Principal City Civil Judge who will then transfer the case to another judge.
The Principal City Civil and Sessions Judge, on Monday, August 4, transferred the file to the 17th Additional City and Civil Sessions Court.
The next hearing in the case is on Tuesday, August 5.
