Punjab and Haryana High Court quashes defamation case against Tribune editors, reporters

The Punjab and Haryana High Court recently quashed a defamation against Rajesh Ramachandran, the former Editor-in-Chief of news outlet, The Tribune, and others for reporting a statement made by Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann in 2019 against then Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Nazar Singh Manshahia [Rajesh Ramachandran and another v State of Punjab and another]..Justice Tribhuvan Dahiya noted that to constitute the offence of defamation under Section 499 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), the statement in question should be made with the intention to harm or knowing or having reason to believe that it will harm the person’s reputation.The Court found that Manshahia had not alleged that the newspapers, Tribune and Punjabi Tribune, had such intention to harm his reputation in any manner or that they had the knowledge or reasons to believe that it would harm his reputation.“There is no such allegation in the entire complaint against the petitioners, and the complainant in his testimony before the CJM has only reiterated his version given in the complaint. Further, no material has been brought on record to even prima facie indicate that the petitioners had reported or published the imputation concerning the complainant to harm his reputation, or knowing or having reason to believe that it would cause harm to his reputation,” it said.Thus, the Court said there was no occasion to summon the accused reporters and editors to face trial in this case. "Criminal complaint no.177/2019, dated 30.07.2019, titled Nazar Singh Manshahia v. Bhagwant Mann and others, under Sections 500 and 120-B of IPC read with Sections 66 and 67 of the Information Technology Act, and all consequential proceedings arising therefrom, including the summoning order, dated 14.12.2020, are hereby quashed qua the petitioners," the Court ordered.Besides Ramachandran, Principal Correspondent Parvesh Sharma, The Punjabi Tribune Editor Dr. Swaraj Bir Singh and contributor Gurdeep Singh Lali had been accused in the case.The Chief Judicial Magistrate, Mansa, in December 2020, summoned the accused to face trial. They then approached the High Court with a petition to quash the trial court proceedings against them, which has now been allowed. .In the complaint before the trial court, it was alleged that The Tribune had reported a statement by then-Member of Parliament (MP) Bhagwant Mann. In this statement, Mann is reported to have said that Manshahia had got a huge amount of money from the Congress party, which was in power then, to resign from AAP and that he would be appointed as Chairman of the Punjab Pollution Control Board.Manshahia filed a criminal complaint against nine persons, including Mann and the reporters and editors of different newspapers which published the statement. He said the reported statement was false as he had never received the amount. The allegations were intended to harass, humiliate and defame him, he said..Advocates Manu K Bhandari, Rohit Kataria and Arjun Sawhni represented the accused.Advocate Satjot Singh Chahal represented the State of Punjab. Advocate PS Dhaliwal represented the complainant..[Read Judgment]