Don't disrespect leaders of country or State when publishing news articles about them: Madras High Court while quashing defamation proceedings

In quashing a 2016 defamation case against Tamil daily newspaper, Dinamalar, the Madras High Court recently cautioned that leaders of the country or the State should not be disrespected when articles are printed or published about them (Dr R Krishnamurthy v. The City Public Prosecutor)..In this case, Justice Bhavani Subbaroyan voiced a note of disapproval over the manner in former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, J Jayalalithaa was addressed in the Dinamalar article in question. ."The petitioner's Newspaper are directed to refrain from printing matters in a disrespectful manner. It has been stated 'J', when the said person was the Hon'ble Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu and should have been addressed as Hon'ble Chief Minister J Jayalalitha and not as 'J'. While printing and publishing matters with regard to the leaders of the Country or State, the petitioners are supposed to give respect and address them accordingly," the Court said. .The Court made the observation while allowing a plea to quash the defamation proceedings initiated against Dinamalar citing Section 500 (punishment for defamation) and Section 199 (2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), which provides a special procedure for initiating prosecution proceedings for the defamation of a public servant..The Court noted that in order to maintain prosecution under Section 199 (2), CrPC, the allegations must directly touch upon the conduct of the concerned public servant in the discharge of his or her public functions..If the defamatory statement is personal in nature, the special procedure will not apply and it is only the concerned person who has to file the complaint in his or her individual capacity, the Court explained..The State had asserted that the media outlet had made wild allegations against the Chief Minister and defamed her in the eyes of the general public. The State added that the outlet could not make such defamatory and derogatory allegations in the name of freedom of the press, while contending that the petitioners must face trial in the case..The Court, however, agreed with the petitioners (Dinamlar's Editor and Printer and its publisher) that the allegations in question do not touch upon the late Chief Minister's public functions and that the case could only be one of personal defamation. .The Court, therefore, opined that the complaint filed by the City Public Prosecutor under Section 199 (2), CrPC would not stand. ."It is seen that this complaint is pending from the year 2016 onwards without any progress. No useful purpose will be served by keeping this complaint pending," the Court added..The Court proceeded to quash the proceedings against Dinamalar's publisher, who was the second petitioner in the matter. .The first petitioner, the outlet's Editor and Printer had passed away earlier this year, before the Court passed its final order on July 12. As such, the Court had already “dismissed the petition as abated” in so far the first petitioner was concerned on April 19, 2021..Advocate S Elambharathi appeared for the petitioners. Government counsel E Raj Thilak appeared for the City Public Prosecutor..[Read Judgment]