MAMMAN MATHEW Vs. INSTRUMENTATION LTD

JUDGEMENT

(1.) These petitions are at the instance of accused 1 and 2 in two cases pending before the court below. They, along with two others, stand charged with offence under S.500 IPC read with S.34 IPC. The petitioners are Managing Editor and Chief Editor respectively of Malayala Manorama daily. They seek to quash the complaint in so far as they are concerned, on the ground that they being the Managing Editor and the Chief Editor respectively of the newspaper, are not liable to be prosecuted for offence u/S 500 IPC. It is their further case that the complaint does not make out any offence as against them and hence it has to be quashed u/S 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

(2.) The Calicut edition of Malayala Manorama published two articles on 11-6-1987 and 12-6-1987. On the allegation that those articles contained defamatory materials, Sri K. G. Kini, General Manager of M/S. Instrumentation Limited, Kanhikode, filed a private complaint before the Additional Judicial First Class Magistrate's Court, Palghat, for offence under S.500 read with S.34 IPC. In that complaint the Managing Editor, the Chief Editor, Printer and Publisher of Malayala Manorama, Calicut Edition and its representative were impleaded as accused The learned Magistrate recorded the sworn statement of the complaint. There-after the complaint was taken on the file as C. C. 216/87.

(3.) M/S. Instrumentation Limited, Kanhikode, represented by its General Manager, Sri K.G. Kini, filed yet another complaint against the above mentioned four persons for offence under S.500 read with S.34 IPC before the same court. The General Manager was examined by the learned Magistrate. Thereupon the complaint was entertained as C. C. 217/87.