K M MATHEW Vs. NALINI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This matter comes up on remand.

(2.) Petitioner, one of the accused in C.C. 147/86 on the file of the Additional Judicial Magistrate of First Class, Kozhikode, moved this court under S.482 of the code, to quash a complaint for defamation against him, on the allegation that an article defamatory to the complainant appeared in the paper. Petitioner is the Chief Editor of a newspaper.

(3.) The complaint was quashed, as there was no averment that the Chief Editor was the person who selected the material for publication. The decisions in C H. Mohammed Koya v. Muthu Koya ( AIR 1979 SC 154 ), State of Maharashtra v. Choudhury ( AIR 1968 SC 110 ) and D. P. Mishra v. K Sharma ( AIR 1971 SC 856 ) were relied on to hold that the Chief Editor could not be held liable.