Bengaluru court fines Reporter TV Rs 10,000, dismisses plea to remove news reports

Bengaluru: The Bengaluru City Civil Sessions Court on Saturday imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 on Reporter TV after dismissing its plea seeking to remove certain news reports and videos from media and online platforms.

The petition, filed against several outlets, requested the deletion of coverage related to the Muttil illegal tree-felling case and other reports.

The court noted concerns over the plaintiffs’ conduct, stating: “Moving of the memo for the withdrawal without assigning the correct reasons itself is nothing but gross abuse of the process of the court by the plaintiff. No doubt when a suit has been filed and the process has been issued in favor of the defendants… by moving the applications and further filing of the memo of this kind without assigning the reasons itself is also causes hardship to the defendants, even the public at large… further it is nothing but the waste of precious time of the court.”

The order also directs that all previously removed URLs, articles, and reports be restored and made accessible to the public within one week: “The plaintiff is hereby directed to restitution of all that has been done pursuant to the exparte ad-interim order dated 25.10.2025, direct all the URLs, articles and news reports that have been removed from the public domain to be restored and made available to general public seeking access to such information within one week from the date of this order.”

Reporter TV’s petition had sought permanent removal of alleged defamatory content against its directors, the Augustine brothers. However, the court observed that the lawsuit appeared to be an attempt to shield the plaintiffs from allegations in ongoing criminal cases in Kerala.

The memo for withdrawal was filed after the High Court of Karnataka stayed the earlier interim injunction granted by the civil court in October 2025. The court emphasised that such conduct amounted to misuse of judicial processes.