HUBBALLI: The District and Sessions Court, Bengaluru, has issued a restraining order in a civil defamation case filed by noted herpetologist Dr P Gowri Shankar, granting him interim protection and restraining the dissemination of defamatory content against him.
The court has passed an order restraining Nagaraj Koove and all persons acting for or through him from publishing any false, derogatory, or defamatory content against Gowri Shankar on social media and other platforms.
Advocate Akshay Swamy appearing on behalf of Gowri Shankar argued that a prima facie case is made out and irreparable injury would be caused to his client and argued for interim relief.
After detailed consideration the court accordingly granted interim protection directing Facebook to take down content against Gowri Shankar which are uploaded from the Facebook account of Nagaraj Koove.
The advocate said that Gowri Shankar, recently brought national and international recognition to Karnataka and India through the discovery of four new species of King Cobras, a scientific breakthrough after 187 years. He honoured the people of Malnad by naming one of the species Ophiophagus Kaalinga.
Nagaraj Koove, from Mudigere in his series of posts on social media had questioned the research and rescue permit of two institutes in Agumbe of which one is run by Gowri Shankar.
He had claimed that the members of institutes are venturing into Someshwara wildlife sanctuary for photo shoots and videos.
Gowri Shankar clarified that all the activities are legal and rescues were done in the presence and knowledge of the forest department.
The herping sessions were conducted within their campus and not inside the sanctuary. Gowri Shankar said that his research permit ended in 2017 after which he is only into rescue and not research in Agumbe.
However the series of complaints by Nagaraj led to investigation by the forest department team which did not find irregularities in the operations. Forest minister Eshwar Khandre ordered to stop any private research including Gowri Shankar to restrain from rescuing the King Cobras and the same job should be done by the forest staff only.
“While training forest staff is important, handling venomous snakes, especially King Cobras, is a specialised skill built over years of practice and discipline. The safety of ground staff is as important as the safety of the public,” said the former Panchayat President and Member of Guddekeri.
In a letter to the forest minister he pointed out that it calls for cooperation, respect for on-ground experience, and a return to a responsible rescue framework guided by science and reality.