LI Network
Published on: 6 August 2023 at 17:55 IST
The Supreme Court quashed a defamation case against an individual who was accused of making defamatory allegations in a complaint filed before a Sub Divisional Magistrate.
The bench, consisting of Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, emphasized that making allegations in good faith against any person before a lawful authority regarding the subject-matter of the accusation does not amount to defamation.
The case involved Kishore Balkrishna Nand, who had submitted a written complaint to the Sub Divisional Magistrate, alleging that a person had illegally encroached upon a piece of land to set up a shop. The accused individual then filed a defamation complaint against Kishore.
The Magistrate accepted the complaint and issued summons to Kishore. However, later, the Magistrate recalled the summons. The Sessions Court overturned this “recall” order, and the High Court affirmed the decision.
On appeal before the Supreme Court, the defendant argued that since the alleged defamatory words were part of a written complaint addressed to a public authority (the SDM) and not made public, they should not be covered under Section 499 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), which deals with defamation.
The court examined Section 499 of the IPC, specifically its eight exceptions, and concluded that there was no basis to put the appellant-accused on trial for the alleged defamation.
The court cited Exception 8, which clearly states that making an accusation in good faith to a lawful authority does not constitute defamation.
Additionally, upon reviewing the content of the complaint, the court was satisfied that there was no case of defamation.
As a result, the court allowed the appeal and quashed the defamation complaint against Kishore Balkrishna Nand.