Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru

Bengaluru, Mar 30: Bengaluru South BJP Lok Sabha candidate Tejasvi Surya has approached the city civil court to issue a gag order on media outlets from publishing ‘defamatory and derogatory’ content on him.

Forty-five media outlets in India and five global digital media outlets such as Google, WhatsApp, YouTube, Facebook and Yahoo have been sent a legal notice on March 29, in which it states that Surya has obtained an interim order from court granting a temporary injunction against publishing content that is derogatory.

This comes in the aftermath of assault and the MeToo allegations that surfaced after Surya filed his nomination.

Congress highlighted the ‘abuse’ complaints on Surya by women in a tweet. “Is @Tejasvi_Surya another MJ Akbar in the making? Dear @BJP4India , @Tejasvi_Surya seems to be a great choice. #BangaloreSouth will remember. #MeToo#LokSabhaPolls2019,” was tweeted from the Congress Twitter handle.

City Civil court judge Dinesh Hegde noted that #MeToo allegation against the candidate had surfaced only after he filed nomination. The judge has asked media houses to reply to the notice before May 27.

A notice sent by Tejasvi Surya's lawyer to media outlets states, “Our client has instituted the suit against all of you... restraining you from publishing defamatory, derogatory publications as against our client."

"Needless to state here that any violation of the interim order would render you liable for serious repercussions and consequences thereof. In the view of the foregoing, you are not at liberty to publish any scandalous and defamatory statements or any fake news as against our client,” it reads.

The temporary injunction is till May 27, when the case will be heard by the court again.