Give Respect To Leaders Of Country/State While Publishing Matters Related To Them: Madras High Court Directs Tamil Newspaper

"While printing and publishing matters with regard to the leaders of the Country or State, the petitioners are supposed to give respect and address them accordingly."

The Bench of Justice V. Bhavani Subbaroyan was hearing the plea filed by the Editor (since dead) and Publisher of Tamil newspaper seeking the quashing of the proceedings initiated them for an offence punishable under Section 500, 501 of IPC.

The matter in brief

The matter against them was they published defamatory allegations with respect to the act or conduct of the then Chief Minister in discharge of her public functions.

It was alleged that they made wild allegations against the then Chief Minister and thereby defamed her name in the eyes of the general public

However, the applicants argued that even if the allegations made in the complaint are taken as it is, the same does not constitute defamatory allegations with respect to the act or conduct of the then Chief Minister in the discharge of her public functions and at the best it can only be treated as personal defamation.

Thus, it was argued that such a complaint can't be maintained through the City Public Prosecutor and it does not satisfy the requirements under Section 199(2) of Cr.P.C.

It may be noted that Section 199(2) of Cr.P.C., provides a special procedure with regard to the initiation of proceedings for prosecution for defamation of a public servant.

Court's observations

The Court noted that for the initiation of proceedings for prosecution for defamation of a public servant, the allegations must directly touch upon acts or conduct of the concerned servant in discharge of his or her public function.

"If the defamatory statement is personal in nature, this special procedure will not apply and it is only the concerned person who has to file the complaint in his or her individual capacity," added the Court.

Perusing the news report, the Court was of the view that the allegations based on which the criminal complaint was filed, does not in any way touch upon the conduct of the aggrieved person in discharge of her public function.

Therefore, the complaint filed by the City Public Prosecutor was said to be not maintainable as not satisfying the requirements of Section 199(2) of Cr. P.C and thus, the same was quashed qua the second petitioner.

Further, directing the Newspaper to refrain from printing matters in a disrespectful manner, the Court said:

"It has been stated 'J' when the said person was the Hon'ble Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu and should have been addressed as Hon'ble Chief Minister J. Jayalalitha and not as 'J'. While printing and publishing matters with regard to the leaders of the Country or State, the petitioners are supposed to give respect and address them accordingly."