After more than three years of waging a legal battle against each other, the Supreme Court on Friday decided to intervene in it by directing the two senior Karnataka officers—IPS officer D. Roopa Moudgil (IPS:2000:KN) and IAS officer Rohini Sindhuri (IAS:2009:KN)—to attempt resolution of their dispute through mediation.
A Bench of Justices Satish Chandra Sharma and Sanjeev Sachdeva appointed retired Supreme Court judge Justice Kurian Joseph as mediator to facilitate a settlement between the two officers, as the top court observed that their failure to arrive at a conciliatory settlement was “destroying” their careers.
This intervention has come more than three years after their public spat culminated in defamation proceedings against each other and claims for damages of ₹1 crore.
The origin of the dispute dates back to February 2023, when Sindhuri came across a series of Facebook posts made by Karnataka’s first woman IPS officer Moudgil allegedly accusing Sindhuri of sharing her private photographs with fellow IAS officers.
The allegations spilled into the public spat, triggering a bitter and highly publicised exchange between the two.
This controversy escalated to such an extent that the Karnataka government decided to transfer both officers.
Sindhuri issued a legal notice to Moudgil, seeking an unconditional apology and demanding ₹1 crore in damages, claiming the allegations had harmed her reputation and caused mental agony, and the dispute moved to the courts.
In March 2023, a Bengaluru court took cognisance of Sindhuri’s criminal defamation complaint and initiated proceedings against Moudgil. The IPS officer subsequently approached the Karnataka High Court seeking to have the case quashed, but the High Court refused to intervene.
Moudgil then moved the Supreme Court in December 2023.
The top court stayed the criminal defamation proceedings and directed both officers not to speak to the media and suggested that Moudgil delete the social media posts and consider issuing an apology.
On the other hand, criminal defamation proceedings had also been initiated against Sindhuri on a complaint lodged by Moudgil in a lower court. Sindhuri challenged it in the High Court, but the HC, in February this year, dismissed Sindhuri’s petition, upholding the trial court’s order taking cognisance of Moudgil’s complaint.
The SC Bench, on Friday, was hearing a petition filed by Sindhuri challenging the HC order upholding a trial court’s decision to take cognisance of a defamation suit filed by Moudgil.
It was when the top court’s intervention came with the Bench observing that the two officers were ruining each other’s careers and urged them to settle their long-running dispute through mediation and appointed Justice Kurian as mediator.
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