Online News portal, The News Minute (TNM), has filed a petition in the Karnataka High Court challenging two ex-parte gag orders passed by the trial courts in Bangalore that restrained the digital platform from reporting on the murder of 17-year-old Sowjanya and the recent allegations consisting of the Dharmasthala and mass burials.

The news outlet, owned by Spunklane Media Private Limited, approached the High Court against a March 22 order and a July 18 order in  suits filed by employees of the Sri Kshetra Dharmasthala Rural Development Project. The news portal claims that it received notices from the complainant demanding the removal of specific articles and a tweet. The plaintiffs cited the court’s order and invoking the ‘John Doe’ classification, to issue notice to TNM though it was not a party to the suit.

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The media outlet says it took down the mentioned content temporarily ‘without prejudice’ just to avoid further legal issues even despite not being a party to the suit and the content in question was not defamatory. However, TNM adds, the March 22 order was later cited again in emails demanding TNM to delete another video.

This time, the digital platform refused to take it down, pointing out that the video only reported verifiable facts, including the filing of an FIR and public statements made by officials, including Karnataka’s Home Minister. It also noted that the video was not listed in the schedule for the ex-parte order.

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In a separate petition, TNM challenged another ex-parte gag order issued on July 18 by an Additional City Civil and Sessions Judge, Bangalore, in a suit naming the news portal as defendant No 47 along with 338 other defendants. The order restrained the media house from publishing any content relating to the Dharmasthala case.

TNM alleges that the order was passed without serving prior notice, as per the rule under Order 39 Rule 3 of the Civil Procedure Code (CPC), asking why the court chose to proceed without hearing the news portal.

The TNM’s petition argues that the gag order fails to distinguish between actual defamatory content and fair, factual reporting on matters of significant public interest, and the sweeping nature of the order amounted to a gag on press freedom.