Bengaluru court sentences Power TV MD Rakesh Shetty to 3 months’ jail for defaming IPS officer

A Bengaluru Rural court has ordered Power TV MD Rakesh Sanjeeva Shetty to be detained in civil prison for three months for wilfully defying an injunction against airing defamatory content. (File Photo)

A court in Bengaluru Rural district has ordered the detention of Power TV Managing Director Rakesh Sanjeeva Shetty in civil prison for three months after finding him guilty of deliberately violating a court injunction that prohibited the channel from airing defamatory content against senior Indian Police Service (IPS) officer B R Ravikanthe Gowda.

In a detailed 22-page order dated January 6, Principal Senior Civil Judge Abdul Saleem concluded that Shetty, representing Power Smart Media Private Limited, knowingly defied an interim temporary injunction issued on September 8, 2023, and broadcast programmes that portrayed the 57-year-old police officer in a derogatory manner.

“The petitioner/plaintiff by producing cogent evidence proved beyond all shadow of doubt that despite there being an interim order of temporary injunction passed by this court on 08.09.2023… the respondent wilfully committed disobedience or breach of the injunction order,” the court said.

Power TV, headquartered at Yeshwanthpur in Bengaluru, has yet to respond publicly to the court’s detention order.

The judge, while allowing the petition filed under Order 39 Rule 2A, read with Section 151 of the Civil Procedure Code, declared that the respondent (Shetty) had “wilfully committed disobedience or breach of the injunction order.” The detention becomes effective once Dr Ravikanthe Gowda deposits the subsistence allowance fixed by the state government, with the next hearing scheduled for January 31, 2026.

The September 8, 2023, injunction had explicitly restrained Power TV and 51 other defendants from “broadcasting, telecasting or publishing or letting in circulation or posting or accommodating the posting or transmitting or circulating or expressing in any manner anything that is defamatory or negatively impacting or hazardous to plaintiff.”

Despite this legal restraint, Power TV aired programmes on September 22 and 23, 2023, referring to Gowda as a “dushta IPS adhikari (evil IPS officer)” along with derogatory captions in Kannada. The court examined 10 photographs, marked as Exhibit P-9, showing the IPS officer’s picture in uniform alongside disparaging text including: “Dushta IPS, kotyanthara rupaayige adhikaari shadyantra (evil IPS officer’s conspiracy for crores of rupees).”

Gowda’s original suit had sought a permanent injunction restraining Power TV from defamatory broadcasts, an unconditional apology, and Rs 20 lakh in damages.

The court said Shetty had full knowledge of the injunction. Court records showed that on September 11, 2023—just three days after the injunction was passed—Power TV’s legal counsel appeared before the court seeking time to file objections to the temporary injunction order. On September 12, 2023, the respondent filed an interlocutory application.

“Therefore, it is very much clear that the respondent/defendant No.52 had knowledge of interim order of temporary injunction passed on 08.09.2023, if not earlier than 11.09.2023, at least on 11.09.2023 when the respondent/defendant No.52 appeared before the court through his counsel,” the judge observed.

“Under the facts and circumstances of the case, more particularly there is no material made available to the court that respondent owns absolute property which could be attached… The court is of considered opinion that the respondent is required to be detained in civil prison for a term of three months,” the judge stated.