Dr. Heggade, Dharmasthala defamation case: SC quashes Somanath Naik’s plea

Belthangady: In relation to spreading false information and defaming Dhamasthala Dharmadhikari Dr. D Veerendra Heggade and affiliated organizations of Sri Kshetra Dharmasthala, the Supreme Court of India quashed the petition filed by the president of Nagarika Seva Trust Somanath Naik.

Earlier, the Belthangady Civil Court had ordered an injunction against Naik. Even after the injunction order, he had disrespected the court orders and continued defaming Dr. Heggade on social media. As the court had taken up the matter, Naik was found guilty and was sentenced to three months imprisonment and paid a relief amount of Rs. 4.5 lakhs towards Sri Kshetra Dharmasthala.

Naik had filed an appeal in the district court. The court upheld the orders passed by the civil court.

Following this, he was issued an arrest warrant by the Belthangady Civil Court with an imprisonment of three months.

He challenged the lower court orders in the Karnataka High Court by filing a Writ petition. However, the HC quashed the petition and upheld the lower court orders.

As a last resort, Naik challenged the HC orders in the Supreme Court.

On Wednesday, October 19, the Supreme Court looked into the matter and opined that there was no reason for its interference in the matter and opined that the petitioner had violated the injunction order passed by the lower court repeatedly. The Apex Court rejected his petition.

Meanwhile, senior advocates KV Viswanathan, VN Raghupathy, K Chandranath Ariga, and a team of lawyers headed by Ratnavarma Bunnu from Bengaluru and Beltnagady represented Sri Kshetra Dharmasthala in the court.