NETTOOR SREEDHARAN Vs. P. V. CHANDRAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The present appeal arises out of the dismissal of O.S.No.66/2011 on the files of the Munsiff's Court, Kuthuparamba, as confirmed by the First Appellate Court in A.S.No.22/2014, on the files of the Sub Court, Thalassery.

(2.) The plaintiff is the appellant. The suit was instituted for damages and injunction on account of an alleged news report that came in the Mathrubhumi daily Kannur Edition on 10/4/2010. As per the said news report, the defendants had published certain malicious article against the plaintiff when he was working as Village Officer in Sivapuram Village. The content of the said article pertains to an alleged swindling of 112 acres of land, which was reserved for the landless people. The plaintiff contended that the publication which was made by the defendants was per se untrue and it was purposefully made with an intention to defeat the plaintiff. Therefore, the plaintiff claimed damages to a tune of Rs.1,00,000.00 .

(3.) The defendants appeared and contested the suit by raising the following contentions. According to the defendants, the article in the newspaper was published based on a registration of a crime against the plaintiff by the Vigilance Department as per enquiry initiated vide proceedings No. VE 15/04/10 KNR. As a follow-up of that proceedings, an FIR was registered in the Vigilance Court as VC No. 10/2007. Thus, it was contended that, since the article was published with a bona fide intention as per the facts gathered from reliable sources, the same cannot be evidently defamatory, and therefore, the article falls within the purview of freedom of Press. On behalf of the plaintiffs, Exts. A1 to A24 documents were marked, and on behalf of the defendants, a copy of the FIR was marked as Ext.B1. PW1 to PW3 were examined on behalf of the plaintiff, whereas DW1 was examined on behalf of the defendants. The trial court on appreciation of evidence framed the following issues: