- (1.) J. C. S. Rawat This is a Criminal Appeal against the order of acquittal dated 19-08-1980 passed by Sri P. K. Sharma, the then Munsif Magistrate, Nainital, in Criminal Case No. 107 of 1979, acquitting the accused-respondent u/s 500 I. P. C.
(2.) BRIEF facts for the disposal of this appeal are that an application was filed before S. D. M. u/s 107, 116 Cr. P. C. and in that application the respondent had written against the appellant that he was a man of bad character and he brings the girls and sett them out. On the basis of this averment, a complaint was filed u/s 500 I. P. C. , The learned Magistrate after taking the cognizance recorded the evidence of the complainant-Bhuban Chandra-PW1, Govind Ram-PW2 and Tara Ram- PW3. The complainant-PW 1 himself had sup ported the averments of the complaint made by him before the court. Govind Ram- PW2 had stated that the com plainant holds a very good character and reputation in the society but he had not stated directly or indirectly that the im putation directly or indirectly in his es timation lowered the moral or intellec tual character of the complainant. Tara Ram-PW3 had also stated that the com plainant had a good character but he had not stated that the reputation of the complainant had been lowered down in the society by the said imputation. The accused-respondent exam ined u/s 313 Cr. P. C. and he had stated that he made the application and he admitted the averment made in the ap plication in para 5 of the application submitted to the S. D. M. He had stated that he had made the said imputation in good faith and public interest and he had no intention to defame the appel lant. No defence evidence has been ad duced in this case. After appreciation of the evi dence, the learned Magistrate held that the prosecution version must specifi cally establish the field in which the reputation of the appellant had been fallen or could fall in the eye of the rea sonable man. The fields have been enumerated in Explanation 4 to Sec. 499 I. P. C. It was further held that the prosecution had failed to specify the ingredients of 499 I. P. C. as such, the accused-respondent was acquitted. Feel ing aggrieved by the said order, the present appeal has been preferred.
(3.) HEARD learned counsel for the parties and perused the record. Learned counsel for the appel lant contended that without examining the evidence the learned Magistrate had come to the conclusion that the impu tation had not lowered down the appellant in estimation in the society. He had further contended that the evidence of the appellant as well as Govind Ram-PW2 and Tara Ram-PW3 who had stated that the appellant had a good moral character and the allegations made by the accused-respondent were false to the knowledge of the accused-respondent. It was further contended that the trial court had erred in hold ing that the prosecution has to specifi cally establish by the evidence that the imputation had lowered down the repu tation of the appellant. The statement which was made by the respondent was grossly defamatory and he had proved by the evidence that the said statement had lowered down the reputation of the appellant in the eyes of the law. Learned counsel for the respondent re futed the contention.;