Bengaluru Court Passes Ex-Parte Injunction Restraining Actor Kamal Haasan From Remarks Against Kannada Language
A Civil court in Bengaluru on Friday passed an ex-parte interim injunction order restraining Tamil actor Kamal Haasan from posting, making, writing, publishing any statement or remarks claiming linguist superiority over Kannada language or by making any statements having the effect of causing hurt or defaming the Kannada language, literature, land and culture.
City Civil And Session Court Judge Madhu N R, passed the interim order in the suit filed by the Kannada Sahitya Parishattu and its President, Nadoja Dr. Mahesh Joshi. The plaintiff had preferred a suit being aggrieved by the defamatory statement made by Kamal Haasan against the language of Kannada and the Kannadigas- that “Kannada was born out of Tamil”.
"The defendant, his agents, assigns, representatives or any person acting under or through them are hereby restrained, by way ad-interim exparte order of temporary injunction, from posting, making, issuing, writing, publishing and / or distributing any statement or remarks claiming linguist superiority over Kannada language or by making any statements having the effect of causing hurt or defaming the Kannada language, literature, land andculture till the next date of hearing," the Court ordered.
The said statement was made by him during the audio launch of the movie “Thug Life”. The suit has been instituted praying for a permanent injunction as well as a mandatory injunction directing Kamal Haasan to tender an unconditional apology to the people of Karnataka and Kannadigas.
It is contended in the plaint that the said statement has caused immense pain and anguish to Kannadigas. Further, the plaintiffs have questioned the timing of the statement, considering the fact that the actor officially filed his nomination for the Rajya Sabha seat representing Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) only days after making the statement.
As per the Plaintiffs, while the issue of screening and release of the movie “Thug Life” had reached finality owing to the orders of the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India, the defamatory and fallacious statement made by Haasan remains and continues to hurt the sentiments of the Kannadigas.
The Court has also directed the plaintiffs to comply with Order 1 Rule 8 (2) of the CPC by giving public advertisement in view of the filing of the present suit in a representative capacity on behalf of Kannadigas.
Appearance: Advocate Chintan Chinnappa Advocate, for Plaintiff's