"Article published in good faith": Supreme Court quashes defamation case by lawyer against newspaper owner

The Supreme Court on Monday quashed criminal defamation proceedings filed by a lawyer against the owner of a Madhya Pradesh-based Hindi daily newspaper, Sunday Blast [Sanjay Upadhya vs Anand Dubey]..The newspaper had published an article stating that an advocate had initiated a false case against a pan masala trader, following which the advocate sued the newspaper's owner. .On Monday, a bench of Justices BR Gavai and Sandeep Mehta observed that the article in question would be covered under free speech rights."The news article in question was published in good faith and in exercise of the Fundamental Right of Freedom of Speech and Expression enshrined under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution of India," the Court said..The top court, therefore, set aside the criminal defamation case initiated by the advocate against the newspaper outlet's owner. .The matter concerned a February 2013 news article with the headline: “Advocate ne pan masala vyavasayi par karaya jhuta mamla darj” ("Advocate files false case against pan masala trader").The lawyer in question initially filed a complaint before a magistrate court, which rejected his complaint. However, on appeal, a sessions court, and later the Madhya Pradesh High Court, upheld the initiation of the defamation proceedings. This was challenged by the newspaper's owner before the Supreme Court.The Supreme Court proceeded to quash the High Court's ruling and restored the magistrate's order, which it found to be a well-reasoned order."The learned Magistrate in its order referred to the Fundamental Right of Freedom of Speech and Expression enshrined under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution of India and held that the publication in question did not warrant prosecution of the accused-appellant ... We are of the opinion that the view taken by the learned Magistrate cannot be termed to be illegal or unjustified," the top court said..The newspaper owner's appeal was, thus, allowed and the defamation case filed against him was quashed..Senior Advocate SK Gangele with advocates Prathvi Raj Chauhan, Priya Sharma, Abhaya Nath Das, Abhay Singh, and Satish Kumar appeared for the newspaper owner, Sanjay Upadhya.None appeared for the complainant-lawyer, Anand Dubey..[Read judgment]