Mangalore: Porngate - Palemar Seeks Rs 25 Crore as Damages from TV Channel
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangalore (RD)
Mangalore, Apr 27: Former state minister Krishna J Palemar who filed a criminal lawsuit in the civil court here, against the owners and editorial committee of ‘Suvarna 24x7’ news channel for relaying false and disgraceful reports on the porn gate scandal in the legislative assembly, has sought damages of Rs 25 crore on defamation charges.
Palemar’s lawyer P P Hegde, while appearing in court, cited the recent judgement of Mumbai High Court in awarding damages of Rs 100 crore to Supreme Court (SC) retired judge P B Savant by ‘Times Now’ for showing a picture of P B Sawant that is in no way related to a corruption case. The SC also allowed appeals against the judgment only after the channel deposited Rs 100 crore as surety. Hegde also sought the court order Suvarna channel to award damages of Rs 25 crore for relaying false reports for several hours against Palemar.
It may be recalled that former minister Laxman Sawadi was captured by cameras while viewing clips on his mobile in the legislative assembly and in a press meet had claimed that he was viewing the public stoning of four youth who were accused of raping a woman in Iran.
Suvarna channel had initially stated that Palemar had informed Laxman about the 'stoning of rapists in Iran'. The clipping that Laxman viewed has no relation to clippings of the Iran episode. Palemar claimed that he had been unnecessarily drawn into the controversy. Palemar, in his complaint, alleged that Suvarna news later changed their story alleging that he was viewing porn on his mobile with the evil motive of blackmailing him.
“Suvarna news channel has relayed false reports continuously. I have resigned the minister’s post to save the dignity of the government. The committee that was appointed by the legislative assembly speaker, in its report, proved that I was innocent and therefore Suvarna news that has relayed false reports has to pay damages of Rs 25 crore,” stated Palemar in his complaint to the city court.
“Suvarna news channel relayed tampered video using latest technology involving me viewing porn on mobile; which has defamed my political and public life,” alleged Palemar.
A case has been filed against Suvarna news channel chief editor Vishveshwar Bhat, editor Hameed Palya, reporter Ranganath Bharadwaj, editorial committee members Pratima Bhat, Veerendra Uppunda, Vinod Kumar Naik, Prashant, and Satyabhoda Joshi, and Suresh Sevaraj, managing director Asianet News Networking Private Limited. A criminal case in this regard has been registered at Bunder police station on the orders of the court.