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The Supreme Court has put an interim stay on criminal defamation proceedings initiated by senior IAS officer Rohini Sindhuri against Karnataka's senior IPS officer D Roopa.
A bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Pankaj Mithal also directed the senior Karnataka-based civil servants not to speak to the media. In it's order on December 15, the bench stated, "The Criminal Case subject matter of this petition will not proceed further... Considering the fact that we are making an attempt to resolve all the disputes pending between the parties, none of them shall give any interview or any information to the media, social and print, in any form." The bench stayed the proceedings after IPS officer Roopa filed an affidavit in terms of the previous order to delete controversial social media posts against IAS officer Sindhuri. Sindhuri's counsel told the bench, in case, any of the social media posts in questions are found as not taken down, Roopa's counsel would be intimated about it. The apex court now posted the matter for hearing on January 12, 2024. On December 14, the top court had asked Roopa to remove the posts, while hearing a petition filed by her to quash the criminal defamation complaint filed by Sindhuri. The apex court was hearing an appeal filed by Roopa against a Karnataka High Court order passed in August whereby it had refused to quash a criminal defamation case initiated by Sindhuri against her. Sindhuri claimed that Roopa had allegedly carried out a "character assassination" against her through social media posts. Sindhuri has alleged in her defamation complaint that Roopa shared photos, made allegations on social media, and made statements in the media questioning her personal and professional conduct to tarnish her before the public and colleagues. This led to a public spat between the two, prompting the State government to transfer both officers. On February 21, Sindhuri issued a legal notice to Roopa and demanded an unconditional apology and Rs 1 crore in damages for the loss of her reputation and mental agony. A Bengaluru court on March 24 while hearing the private suit filed by Sindhuri, ordered the initiation of a criminal defamation case against Roopa. Roopa then approached the High Court for quashing of the case and her plea was rejected. Thereafter, Roopa moved ten top court challenging the High Court's order. Hearing the appeal, the top court had commented that if the officers continued to fight and refuse meditation, the State administration would come to a standstill. (ANI)
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