Crl OP No. 2601 / 2021
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT MADRAS
RESERVED ON : 27.04.2023
PRONOUNCED ON : 10.05.2023
CORAM :
THE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE SUNDER MOHAN
Criminal Original Petition No. 2601 of 2021
and
Crl.M.P. Nos. 1422 & 9569 of 2021
1.K.Ramasubbu
2.Karna @ Karunakaran ... Petitioners
Versus
Visakan Raja @ Raja,
S/o. Late. Ponnuchamy,
District Secretary,
DMDK (Central Chennai DT),
No. 7/3, Samaiyapurathamman Koil Street,
Choolaimedu,
Chennai – 600 094. ...
Respondent
PRAYER : Criminal Original Petition filed under Section 482 of the
Criminal Procedure Code seeking to call for the records and to quash the
proceedings in C.C. No. 1534 of 2020 pending on the file of the Learned
XVII Metropolitan Magistrate, Saidapet.
For Petitioners : Mr. S.Elambharathi
https://www.mhc.tn.gov.in/judis
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Crl OP No. 2601 / 2021
For Respondent : No appearance.
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Crl OP No. 2601 / 2021
ORDER
The petition is to quash the complaint filed for the offence under Section 500 of IPC.
2. The allegation in the complaint is that the petitioners, as Editor and Cartoonist of the Magazine 'Dinamalar' through a cartoon published, depicted the images of the political leaders by name Captain Vijayakant, Mrs. Premalatha Vijayakant and the party Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam as auctioneers with a bell in their hand during election thereby bringing disgrace and disrespect for the party and its leaders in the minds of the general public. It is further stated that the respondent is a loyal worker of the party.
3. The learned counsel for the petitioners submits that the alleged cartoon, even assuming it had brought disgrace and disrespect to the three persons in the complaint, the respondent cannot be said to be the person aggrieved by such a publication. There is nothing in the impugned publication which had harmed the members of the said party. In such circumstances, in the absence of any authorization or power given by the persons aggrieved, the respondent could not have maintained the https://www.mhc.tn.gov.in/judis 3/9 Crl OP No. 2601 / 2021 complaint.
4. Though a learned counsel has entered appearance since there was no representation, this Court directed the registry to print the name of the respondent also in the cause list. However, none has entered appearance on behalf of the respondent.
5. This Court finds that the complaint states that the publication containing the imputation, which is a subject matter of the complaint, has shown the political leader and his wife in a manner that is likely to cause harm to their reputation. However, there is nothing in the impugned publication or in the complaint to show that the imputation had harmed the members of the political party. This Court, in similar circumstances, had quashed the proceedings which were initiated by persons who were not aggrieved by the imputation. In the judgment reported in 2021 SCC OnLine Mad 5317 in Tamilisai Soundararajan Vs. Dhadi K. Karthikeyan, this Court had observed as follows;
“16. ...However, neither the person nor the party, which is alleged to have been affected by the said https://www.mhc.tn.gov.in/judis 4/9 Crl OP No. 2601 / 2021 statements have given any authorization to the respondent to file the said private complaint. The respondent, on his own accord, for reasons best known to him, has thought it fit to file the said private complaint and the respondent, being not a person affected by the said alleged statement, invocation of the offence u/s 500 IPC does not merit acceptance.“ Likewise in Maridhas Vs. S.R.S. Umari Shankar reported in 2022 (1) LW (Crl) 301, this Court had made the following observations;
“16. The petitioner had only made imputations against Ms.Gayathri Kanthadai and DMK. No imputation has been made against DMK partymen as such. The complainant hasnot suffered any legal injury. His reputation has not in any way been lowered. The Party has not authorised the filing of the complaint. If the partymen or the members of DMK had been defamed, then as a member of a definite class of people, the respondent could have maintained the complaint.
Such is not the case here. The complainant on his own has filed the complaint. Since he is not a person aggrieved, continuation of the impugned proceedings will amount to an abuse of legal process. Therefore, the impugned https://www.mhc.tn.gov.in/judis 5/9 Crl OP No. 2601 / 2021 proceedings are quashed. This criminal original petition is allowed. Consequently, connected miscellaneous petitions are closed.“ The above observations squarely apply to the facts of the instant case, as there is nothing in the imputation to show that the respondent has been defamed in any manner. Hence he cannot be an aggrieved person to institute the impugned complaint. For the above reasons, the impugned complaint is liable to be quashed.
6. Accordingly, this Criminal Original Petition is allowed by quashing the proceedings in C.C. No. 1534 of 2020 pending on the file of the Learned XVII Metropolitan Magistrate, Saidapet. Consequently, the connected Miscellaneous Petitions are closed. 10.05.2023 ay Index: Yes/No Speaking Order / Non-Speaking Order Neutral Citation: Yes / No https://www.mhc.tn.gov.in/judis 6/9 Crl OP No. 2601 / 2021 To The XVII Metropolitan Magistrate, Saidapet.
https://www.mhc.tn.gov.in/judis 7/9 Crl OP No. 2601 / 2021 SUNDER MOHAN, J ay Crl.O.P. No. 2601 of 2021 and Crl.M.P. Nos. 1422 & 9569 of 2021 https://www.mhc.tn.gov.in/judis 8/9 Crl OP No. 2601 / 2021 Dated: 10.05.2023 https://www.mhc.tn.gov.in/judis 9/9