SOUMEN SEN, J. - (1.) The plaintiff has filed a suit for defamation. The reliefs claimed in the suit are primarily directed against the defendant no.1. The plaintiff contends that the articles published on 13th July 2017 are per se defamatory. Dispute arose with regard to purchase of land for Anandalok Hospital. The defendant no.1 is one of the trustees of the Board of Trust of Anandalok Hospital. It appears that various persons have contributed for acquisition of the property so that the hospital could be constructed on the said land.
(2.) Apparently, a Memorandum of Understanding was entered into between the plaintiff and the trustees on 1st March 2016 which shows that the Dhoot Group would facilitate procurement / registration / handover of land to Anandalok within three months from the date of the said understanding and thereafter Anandalok would start construction of the hospital within one year. All expenses related to land registration, stamp duty, land filling, construction of boundary wall, hospital building etc. would be borne by Anandalok. A representative of Dhoot Group would head the Hospital Construction Committee and thereafter Management Committee of the Hospital. A Dhoot Group representative would be appointed as trustee of Anandalok. A suitable size marble slab will be installed highlighting Dhoot Group's donation at the main gate of the Hospital.
(3.) The present dispute arose out of a communication dated 18th March 2017 in which Pawan Kumar Dhoot while referring to the past donations made by the Dhoot Group to Anandalok had asserted that the plaintiff has donated 3 acres of land in Rajarhat worth crores of rupees for Anandalok for building a Multi-Specialty Hospital. The defendant no.1 was unhappy with the communication as the defendant no.1 denied that there had been any donation. But instead of keeping his grievance private, the defendant no.1 has gone public ventilating his grievance in a publication dated 13th July 2017 (wrongly mentioned in the petition as 30th July 2017). The article was published in "Prabhat Khabar" in which the defendant no.1 has stated that Mr. Pawan Dhoot although claimed that he had donated 3 acres of land but the defendant no.1 did not receive any money. The Dhoot Group has received consideration of Rs. 4.67 crores for purchasing the said land. The defendant no.1 had to pay Rs. 1 crore for boundary wall and approximately Rs. 1 crore for other miscellaneous expenses. It was claimed that although the entire consideration was paid for purchase of 182 cottahs of land but in fact only 130 cottahs of land was handed over to the defendant.;