Defamation suit: Issuance of summons to be decided on Aug 21

Bellary, Aug 12 (UNI) A local court today posted orders on issuance of summons to August 11 in the private criminal defamation case filed by suspended BJP legislator G Janardhana Reddy against Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy and two of his ministerial colleagues.

After hearing a 90-minute argument by Mr Reddy's counsel C V Nagesh in support of the plea for issuance of summons, Judicial Magistrate First Class (Junior Division) U Chandrasekhar said a decision on issuance of summons against Mr Kumaraswamy and two other accused--Home Minister M P Prakash and Forests Minister C Chennigappa would be taken on August 21.

Earlier Mr Nagesh cited several instances to show that courts had issued summons to public servants facing defamation cases.

He pointed out that the Maharashtra High Court had admitted two defamation cases--one against a Minister and another against an bureaucrat--and issued summons to them. While the Minister had faced charges for calling a person a ''goonda,'' the offical had been summoned for assaulting a taluk panchayat member at a meeting.

The court had said that though the minister and bureaucrat were public servants, they had no right to hurt the feelings of others by using harsh words, he said.

The examination of witnesses in the case was taken up on August 10. The witnesses, Zilla Panchayat member Rudre Gowda, Mr Vorupaksha Gowda and Mr Karibasappa, had said that Mr Kumaraswamy's statement that Mr Reddy had lost his mental balance, after the latter accused him of receiving a bribe of Rs 150 crore from the mining lobby in the district, had hurt their feelings.

Mr Reddy had levelled the bribery allegation against Mr Kumaraswamy and Mr Chennigappa only to retract it following the intervention of the BJP top brass. However, he stuck to his charge on the floor of the Legislative Council, prompting Mr Kumaraswamy to term him mentally imbalanced. Irked by the remark, the BJP leader preferred the defamation suit.

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