Karnataka: Scribe jailed in 20-year-old defamation case

BENGALURU: Acting on directions from the high court, city police on Friday arrested journalist Ravi Kumar and sent him to Bengaluru Central Prison.
The move came after the high court reduced the scribe's jail term from nine months to six in a two-decade-old defamation case and issued a warrant to Upparpet police. Accordingly, cops picked up Kumar, editor, publisher, reporter and owner of Parivala Patrike, a Kannada fortnightly, from his residence in Harohalli.
The case dates back to 2000 when the then PU board director and IAS officer Harish Gowda filed a private complaint, accusing Kumar of publishing a defamatory article in his tabloid. In 2002, the trial court held Kumar guilty and sentenced him to simple imprisonment of one year. After multiple appeals, the trial court sentenced Kumar to six months in prison in 2017 and fined him Rs 10,000. Gowda approached the district and sessions court, which increased the term to nine months. However, in May 2022, the high court reduced the jail term back to six months. TNN