Yeddyurappa Goes to High Court; Doesn't Want to be Called a 'Jailbird'

Bengaluru: The political theatrics in poll-bound Karnataka took a new turn when state BJP President and the party's chief ministerial candidate BS Yeddyurappa approached the Karnataka High Court seeking an injunction over the 'derogatory comments' made by members of the ruling Congress party against him.

Acting on his appeal, the Karnataka High Court has issued notices to chief minister Siddaramaiah, state Congress president G Parmeshwar, Dinesh Gundu Rao, CM Ibrahim, VS Ugrappa MB Patil and Brijesh Kalappa.

Not just Congress, Justice G Narendra's court has also sent notices to the Press Council of India and the regulatory body of private TV channels i.e. the broadcasting council of India as respondents, in case any of them publish the remarks made by the congressmen.

Yeddyurappa's lawyer Sandeep Patil, has brought up 3 instances that he argued the court should take cognizance of and grant an injunction in the matter. Firstly, he stated--"Members of the Congress party keep referring to cases against the former CM which have already been disposed in his favour. By referring to those cases in their speeches or social media comments they are lowering the judgement of the court, which acts as an insult to the court as the case has already been disposed".

Secondly, Yeddyurappa has taken objection to matters that have been quashed in the HC but are still pending in the SC. His lawyer argues that referring to those case shows that the Congress party is interfering with the justice system and thus acting as an infringement in the right to fair trial.

But what hurts Yeddyurappa the most is the usage of the term 'jailbird'. The Congress party has often uses this word to draw people's attention to the time the former CM was indicted in the illegal mining case back in 2011 which was also the cause of the BJP governments downfall in the subsequent elections in 2013.

Yeddyurappa has taken offense to the usage of the word stating that-- if a trial is still on-going and the bail plea is yet to be heard, then technically the person is in judicial custody, and hence is not a convict. And with some of the cases being quashed, despite that calling someone a 'jailbrid' is per se defamatory.

With the state assembly elections barely months away, the mudslinging is only going to increase in the coming days. Will Justice G Narendra grant BS Yeddyurappa the injunction he seeks? The matter is likely to come up before the court on 26th March.