K'taka HC pulls up BJP’s Yatnal over remarks

NT Bureau, Agencies Bengaluru: The Karnataka High Court on Thur s d ay pulled up Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Basangouda Patil Yatnal for a prima facie defamatory comment about State Minister for Health and Family Welfare Dinesh Gundu Rao’s inter-faith marriage, reported Live Law. The single judge bench of Justice M Nagaprasanna declined to stay defamation proceedings against Yatnal initiated by the health minister’s wife, Tabassum Rao. Yatnal made the remark on social media in April in connection with a BJP leader who had been questioned by the National Investigation Agency in the Rameshwaram Cafe blast case.

The High Court on Thursday remarked: “Just because someone’s wife is a Muslim, can you dub him to be ‘half Pakistani’? This is not the way to talk. This is not correct.” Yatnal’s lawyer argued that the statement was made in response to a public utterance by Dinesh Gundu Rao, but the minister’s wife contended that it was meant to target her. “They [Bharatiya Janata Party] talk of Bharat Mata [Mother India] but can’t respect women,” Tabassum was quoted as saying.