Bengaluru Court directs former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda to pay Rs 2 crore as compensation in defamation suit by infra company NICE

A Bengaluru Court recently directed former Prime Minister of India HD Deve Gowda to pay Rs 2 crore as damages to infrastructure development company, Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprises (NICE) for a defamatory statement made by him against the company in an interview given to a local news channel (Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprise Limited v. HD Deve Gowda).."The defendant is directed to pay damages of Rs.2,00,00,000 to the plaintiff Company for the loss of reputation of the plaintiff Company on account of the defamatory comments made by the defendant in the interview telecasted in the "Suvarna 24/7" Kannada news channel dated 28.6.2011 under the caption "Gowdara Garjane”, ordered the Court of Additional City and Civil Judge, Mallanagouda..This apart, the Court restrained the former Prime Minister from making any defamatory statements against NICE in any media, news channel, TV channel or in any other means of mass communication in the future. The order states,“The defendant is permanently restrained from making any defamatory statements against the plaintiff Company in any media, news channel, T.V. channel or in any other means of mass communication in future.".On June 28, 2011, Deve Gowda was the Chief Guest for Kannada news channel Suvarna 24x7 in a segment titled "Gowdara Garjane." In the said interview, Deve Gowda was alleged to have made unnecessary and slanderous allegations/comments against NICE and its promoter and Managing Director, Ashok Kheny..The former PM stated that the company was looting the public money, and that its project was a "loot project.".During the interview, he further said the company is indulging in mafia activities of 'land grabbing' of the poor farmers and that Kheny was a notorious 'don' who colluded with certain government officials to indulge in dishonest and corrupt practices..NICE subsequently moved the court seeking damages of Rs 10 crore and a permanent injunction restraining Gowda from making defamatory comments against it in any media or any other means of mass communication..What were the contentions?.NICE contended that the statement made by Gowda were totally false, baseless and imaginary. It was also contended that he, being a politician of some stature and having occupied high political offices, has violated all norms of ethics, decency, and responsibility and has made highly defamatory comments/allegations against Kheny and the company without exercising due care and caution.Since the date of telecast of the said interview, Kheny and his family members have been put to untold mental agony, public shame, humiliation, and disgrace, the plaint stated..Gowda, on the other hand, questioned the maintainability of the plea. He sought to exercise his fundamental right to freedom of speech and argued that any opinion and fair criticism of any individual or organization concerning a public activity cannot be restrained as being violative of the right of freedom of speech and expression..What the Court said.After going through the rival contentions, the Court noted that the project being implemented by NICE had already received the green signal from the Karnataka High Court and was upheld by the Supreme Court of India. This showed that Gowda's statements on illegalities and irregularities of the project appears to be incorrect, said the Court..The Court went on to say that no evidence was provided by the former Prime Minister to support his allegations against the plaintiff’s project."But, when sufficient opportunities were offered by this Court for the defendant to produce evidence regarding the allegations made by him against the plaintiff Company in the interview in question, the defendant has failed to utilize those opportunities and substantiate the statements and comments made by him in the said interview.".On the allegation of Gowda that the company had utilized more land than what was required for the project, the Court said,“The allegations made by the defendant against the plaintiff Company about acquiring more land than the land required by the plaintiff Company for implementation of the project, appears to be false and made by the defendant without there being any documentary evidence regarding the same.".The Court concluded that Gowda's statements were made without any authenticity and were hence defamatory to the plaintiff. It thus directed the former Prime Minister to pay Rs.2,00,00,000 to NICE as compensation..On a concluding note, the Court said,"The project undertaken by the plaintiff Company is a massive project – which is in the larger interest of the State of Karnataka. Hence, if defamatory statements like the present one are allowed to be made in future, definitely implementation of such a massive project like the present one which is undertaken in the larger public interest of the State of Karnataka is going to be delayed. Therefore, this Court feels that it is necessary to curb such statements by issuing a permanent injunction against the defendant.".[Read Judgment]