ORILAL MOTILAL Vs. KALLU

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is an appeal under Sub-section (3) of Section 417 of the Code of Criminal Procedure against the acquittal of the accused-respondents ot an offence punishable under Section 500 of the Indian Penal Code. The charge against them was that they had defamed the complainant, Orilal (P. W. 1), by making imputations concerning him that respondent No. 1 Mst. Kallo, a blind widowed daughter of respondent No. 2 Pachaiya, had conceived through him by illicit intercourse. The defence was that the respondents were protected under the Ninth Exception to Section 499 of the Indian Penal Code.

(2.) The complainant is a blind beggar, aged about 50 years, resident of village Panama, and his complaint was that the imputation was false and had been made and published maliciously to defame him.

(3.) It is not disputed that the imputation was made and published, and that unless accepted by the Ninth Exception to Section 499 of the Indian Penal Code, it was defamatory within the mean-ing of that section and, if false, it did harm his reputation.