The Punjab and Haryana High Court has quashed a defamation complaint against former Kurukshetra MP Raj Kumar Saini. The complaint was filed by one Sant Kanwar of Rohtak in April 2018.
Acting on the same, a Rohtak court had summoned Saini to face the trial in June 2018. Subsquently, Saini had moved the high court in July 2019. Kanwar, a follower of late Chaudhary Matu Ram Hooda, an Arya Samajist, had alleged that in April 2018 Saini made several defamatory statements against Hooda.
Saini in high court had claimed that Kanwar had no “locus standi” as he was not an “aggrieved person” as per law. Kanwar, despite notices, failed to appear before high court.
The court observed that a ‘person aggrieved’ must have an element of personal interest, being either the person defamed himself or in the case of a deceased person, his family member or other near relative. However, in this case, Kanwar does not claim to be a member of the family or his near relative.
The court said Kanwar, who is not a ‘family member’ or ‘near relative’ of late Hooda, cannot unilaterally assume unto himself the status of an ‘aggrieved person’ under Section 199 CrPC, whereby he can assert that his feelings were hurt and maintain the subject complaint against Saini. Kanwar’s claim seems to have been based more on ideological considerations rather than any actual ‘relationship’. There was no averment in the complaint itself indicative of any familial relationship, the court added.
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