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Kannada actor and activist Chetan Kumar Ahimsa and Congress leader Najma Nazeer Chikkanerale have been served legal notices in connection with their public statements and social media posts on the ongoing controversy surrounding the alleged mass burials in Dharmasthala. The notices come in the wake of a sweeping ex parte injunction obtained by Harshendra Kumar D, brother of Dharmasthala Dharmadhikari Veerendra Heggade, to remove and restrain content related to the allegations made by a former sanitation worker employed by the temple administration.
Chetan Kumar received the notice for a post on X, where he shared a news clipping about the case and commented on the allegations. In his post, he said, “A ‘former sanitation worker at Dharmasthala temple’ has filed a police complaint that he was forced to bury bodies of women & men raped & murdered in Dharmasthala town (1995–2014). Good state govt has protect this complainant; now it must reopen cases pertaining to #Dharmasthala(sic).”
Following the legal notice, Chetan expressed concern over what he described as a suppression of free speech. “Brother of Dharmasthala temple head has gotten a gag order to delete 8,842 links. While I have named no one in any video or talk, my name—Chetan Kumar—has been listed as #41 on that list: an infringement of Article 19’s FoE & media. Why silence voices if one has nothing to hide?(sic)” he said.
Najma Nazeer was also served a notice after she spoke about the issue in an interview with Kannada news channel Pratidhvani. In the interview, Najma spoke about the alleged mass burials in Dharmasthala. She said the issue was about human rights and justice, not religion. She condemned the attempts to communalise the situation, pointing out that people like YouTuber Sameer MD were simply fighting for justice for the victims, including women like Sowjanya, who never received justice or even proper last rites.
Najma questioned why religion was being dragged into the matter and criticised those spreading communal narratives, saying the fight was not about Hindu or Muslim identities but about standing up against atrocities. In the video, she also rejected allegations that Sameer was doing this for fame or politics, stating they only wanted justice.
In addition to the interview, Najma was also served the notice for a post on Instagram where she shared a photograph with Sameer MD. The post’s caption read, “Those who raise their voice for justice are my brothers and sisters. Whether they are Muslim or Hindu. All those who have humanity are my brothers and sisters @isameermd @girish_mattennavar #brothers #sowjanya #JusticeForAll #justiceforsowjanya.”
Reacting to the legal notice, Najma said, “For demanding justice for Sowjanya, they have sent a thousand-page notice and another pen drive. Now I will shout even louder. #justiceforsowjanya.”
These notices are part of a larger legal action initiated by Harshendra Kumar D, who secured an ex parte injunction from the 10th Additional City Civil and Sessions Court on July 18. The court order mandates the deletion or de-indexing of 8,842 online links, including 4,140 YouTube videos, 932 Facebook posts, 3,584 Instagram posts, 108 news links, 37 Reddit threads, and 41 tweets. The injunction also restrains the publishing, circulating, uploading, or forwarding of any content deemed defamatory against Harshendra, his family, the Sri Manjunathaswamy temple, or any institution run by the Dharmasthala administration, until the next hearing.
The sanitation worker at the centre of the case has not named specific individuals as being responsible for the alleged crime but claimed he was coerced by temple supervisors to bury the bodies of women and children between 1995 and 2014. He submitted skeletal remains to the police, which he said were exhumed from one of the burial sites. His complaint has led to intense public debate and widespread media coverage, prompting the Karnataka government to form a Special Investigation Team to probe the allegations.
Several media organisations and online platforms have been named in the injunction order, including The News Minute, Deccan Herald, The Hindu, Times of India, Indian Express, Prajavani, TV9, News18, and dozens of other national and regional outlets. Third Eye, a YouTube portal also named in the petition, has moved the Supreme Court, arguing that the injunction violates freedom of expression and seeking to have the order quashed.