T SIVAGNANASAMBANDAN Vs. SELVI J JAYALALITHA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE revision has been directed against the order passed by the learned VII Metropolitan Magistrate, George Town, Chennai in Crl.M.P. No. 8451 of 2002 dismissing the complaint filed by the revision petitioner for an offence punishable under Sec. 500, I.P.C. against the respondent.

(2.) THE petitioner is a practising advocate and a member of the Congress Party led by Tmt. Sonia Gandhi. THE respondent, who is the General Secretary of All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam was said to have made a statement on 28.8.2002 at Delhi in a Press Meet stating that Tmt. Sonia Gandhi is a foreigner and though she is a citizen of India, she is only a foreigner and she will not be accepted as Prime Minister of India. According to the petitioner, the further statement is that the people belonging to Congress Party are trying to make Tmt. Sonia Gandhi as Prime Minister of India and it amounts to cheating and it is a shame. This statement, according to the revision petitioner amounts to defamation.

(3.) THE next contention of the learned counsel appearing for the revision petition is that the statement of the respondent that the people belonging to the Congress Party are trying to make Tmt. Sonia Gandhi as Prime Minister of India amounts to cheating and it is a shame, amounts to defamation against the members of the said party including the revision petitioner. Unless the words spoken to by the respondent are held to be imputation lowering the moral or intellectual character of the person against whom those words were spoken, the person speaking those words cannot be tried for an offence of defamation. At the best, the statement said to have been made by the respondent that the attempt to forge a foreigner as Prime Minister of India is a shameful act, has been made only to dissuade the Congress Party men from forging Tmt. Sonia Gandhi to Prime Ministership. If an act is said to be shameful, it does not per se amount to defamation so long as it has not been indicated that the said act has lowered the moral or intellectual character of the person against whom the imputation has been made or it has affected the credit of that person in respect of his or her caste or calling. Lowering the credit means lowering the reputation of the said person. THE act of dissuading the members of a party from forging their leader to the Prime Ministership does not amount to defamation. THE imputation should be so grave that it affects the very reputation of the person concerned. THEre is absolutely no personal allegation against Tmt. Sonia Gandhi either intending to harm her reputation or knowing or having reason to believe that the imputation will harm her reputation. THErefore, the necessary ingredients to constitute the offence of defamation are not present in the speech said to have been made by the respondent as quoted by the revision petitioner in his complaint. THErefore, on that score alone, the order passed by the learned Magistrate dismissing the complaint cannot be interfered with.