K.E.GNANAVEL Vs. K.MUKANCHAND BOTHRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The present petition has been filed for quashment of the case on the file of the XV Metropolitan Magistrate, George Town, Chennai, which have been taken pursuant to the complaint lodged by the respondent for prosecution of the petitioner for defamation.

(2.) It is the case of the petitioner that an interview was given by him along with his colleagues in the cine industry at the funeral of one Ashok Kumar, who committed suicide due to financial constraints, which interview was published in the Tamil Magazine "Junior Vikatan" on 29/11/2017, wherein it is alleged by the respondent that the petitioner had made defamatory and derogatory statement against the respondent, which led to the filing of the complaint by the respondent against the petitioner and three other persons.

(3.) The private complaint was preferred by the respondent before the learned XV Metropolitan Magistrate, George Town, Chennai, on the allegation that the petitioner had made derogatory/adverse/defamatory/ill statement against the respondent in the Tamil Magazine "Junior Vikatan", which has wide circulation throughout the length and breadth of the country, which has been taken cognizance of by the learned Magistrate. The sum and substance of the said statement, alleged to have been made by the petitioner, for better appreciation, is quoted hereunder :-