The Karnataka High Court recently sentenced an editor of Kannada daily "Hello Mysuru" to six months of imprisonment for publishing defamatory articles against a circle inspector of police in 2004 [SN Suresh Babu V T Gururaj].
In the November 3 ruling, Justice S Rachaiah set aside a trial court order that had earlier acquitted the editor, T Gururaj, in the defamation case filed by the now-retired police officer, SN Suresh Babu.
"It appears that, the respondent (Gururaj) has published the words or statements in his newspaper which cause or harm the reputation of the appellant (Babu). Making baseless allegations to defame the dignity of individual, certainly, would amount to defamation. Hence, the findings of the Trial Court are liable to be set aside," the Court said.
The case concerned articles published in Hello Mysore in August 2004, which accused then-Circle Inspector Suresh Babu of taking bribes, permitting illegal lottery operations, allowing prostitution, and facilitating other unlawful activities within his jurisdiction.
These articles were published shortly after the police inspector arrested the editor (Gururaj) in another case.
The retired police officer claimed the publications were an act of vendetta meant to damage his reputation.
The Court found that Gururaj had made a series of allegations against the police official in these articles without offering proof for any of them.
"When such allegations are made against an officer and failed to prove any one of such allegations by producing any complaints by the public, amounts to defamation," it observed.
The Court, therefore, convicted the editor for defamation under Sections 500 (punishment for defamation) and 501 IPC (printing matter known to be defamatory) of the Indian Penal Code.
As punishment, the Court ordered the editor to undergo six months of simple imprisonment and pay a fine of ₹2,000. If the fine is not paid, the editor will have to undergo an additional month of simple imprisonment, the Court added.
Advocates Chethan B and Syed Amjad appeared for Babu (the police officer/ appellant) and Advocate Shankarappa appeared Babu.
[Read Order]