The Karnataka Legislative Assembly has directed the Home department to arrest Bengaluru-based tabloid journalists Ravi Belagere and Anil Raj following a House resolution sentencing them to one-year imprisonment and a fine of Rs 10,000 for breach of privilege.
The Assembly Secretariat sent a letter to the Home department on Tuesday night, after the Legislative Assembly unanimously rejected a petition filed by the two editors seeking reconsideration of the imprisonment and fine.
In 2014, Ranebennur MLA K B Koliwad (now the Speaker) had petitioned the Privileges Committee taking offence to "defamatory articles" against him in 'Hi Bengaluru'. Ravi Belagere is the editor of Hi Bengaluru.
In another instance, in 2017, Yelahanka MLA S R Vishwanath approached the Privileges Committee taking offence to the articles appeared in a local tabloid 'Yelahanka Voice' edited by Raj. The committee found the articles defamatory and that they amounted to breach of privilege.