BENGALURU: A city civil and sessions court on Friday restrained actor Kamal Haasan from making any defamatory statement or remarks against the Kannada language, literature, land and culture. The court also issued notice to Kamal Haasan.
Hearing a suit filed by Kannada Sahitya Parishath (KSP) and its president Mahesh Joshi, the 30th Additional City Civil and Sessions Court passed the ad-interim ex-parte order temporary injunction from posting, making, issuing, writing, publishing and/or distributing any statement or remarks claiming linguistic superiority over Kannada language or making any statements causing hurt or defaming the Kannada language, literature, land and culture, till the next date of hearing.
The KSP also prayed to court to direct Haasan to tender an unconditional apology to the people of Karnataka and Kannadigas, including the KSP, and withdraw the impugned statement made that “Kannada was born out of Tamil”.
KSP moved court over the statement by Kamal Haasan during the launch of his latest movie ‘Thug Life’ in Chennai.
Explaining the history of the Kannada language and its significance, the KSP contended that Kamal Haasan is not a historian or a linguist. His knowledge of the history of Tamil and Kannada is not backed by any personal education, academic qualification, study or learning. Despite this, Haasan resorted to making a bold comment about the fact that Kannada was born out of Tamil.