K.Ramasubbu vs Visakan Raja @ Raja
2023 Latest Caselaw 5044 Mad

Citation : 2023 Latest Caselaw 5044 Mad
Judgement Date : 10 May, 2023

Madras High Court

K.Ramasubbu vs Visakan Raja @ Raja on 10 May, 2023

                                                                                  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


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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

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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

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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

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