Bengaluru court rejects criminal defamation complaint against Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah

A special court in Bengaluru on Tuesday dismissed a private criminal defamation complaint against Karnataka Chief Minister (CM) Siddaramaiah [Shankar Shet and Anr. vs Siddaramaiah].The complainant moved the Court alleging that the CM had, prior to the recently concluded legislative assembly elections, made remarks defaming the entire Lingayat community.Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Preeth J ruled that the statement was not made with respect to the entire Lingayat community but only with respect to former Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai.Therefore, the Court held that the complainants had not incurred any legal injury due to Siddaramaiah's statement. It further emphasized that initiating legal proceedings in this case would constitute an abuse of the legal process.."The complainants have not suffered any legal injury by the statement made by the accused. Their reputation has not in any way been lowered. Since, they are not the person aggrieved, taking cognizance of the offence and proceeding with the case will amount to an abuse of legal process," the Court said..The Court was hearing a plea by two individuals belonging to the Lingayat community seeking cognisance of the offence under Section 499 (defamation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) against the Karnataka CM.They alleged that a statement by Siddaramaiah in Varuna constituency before the assembly elections was derogatory and defamatory against the entire community..Siddaramaiah allegedly shared his opinion with a reporter about the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) strategy of selecting a Lingayat candidate as Chief Minister. According to reports, he stated that a Lingayat CM had already tarnished the State due to his corrupt nature. This, according to the complainants, amounted to criminal defamation..They emphasized that no court had convicted or found any Lingayat CMs of Karnataka guilty of offences punishable under the Prevention of Corruption Act. They further contended that the statement was intended to tarnish the community's reputation in the eyes of the general public and to benefit Siddaramaiah's political career..The Court observed that the statement was not per-se defamatory. Further, holding that the statement did not defame the Lingayat community as a whole, the Court ruled that the complainants did not even have locus-standi to file the complaint.Accordingly, the Court dismissed the plea as not maintanable..[Read Order]