M J AKBAR Vs. ORISSA INDUSTRIES LTD

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Petitioners call in question legality of order dated 3 -8 -1993 passed by learned Judicial Magistrate, First Class, Panoosh 'in short, JMFC') in purported exercise of power Under Section 319. Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (in short, the 'Cr PC'), by which direction has been given for issue of summons to them for facing trial as accused persons.

(2.) BACKGROUND in which a complaint was filed by Orissa Industries Limited (hereinafter referred to as the 'opposite party') is as follows : An article was published authored by Shri B. K. Mishra, its the then local correspondent,(hereinafter referred to as the 'accused'), in the daily 'Telegraph' on 9 -3 -1989. According to opposite party, the article was defamatory in character, so far as it was concerned, and therefore, an offence punishable Under Section 500 read with Section 499 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (in short, the IPC) was committed. It filed ICC Case No. 13 of 1989 in the Court of JMFC, Panposh. Decided on 14tb July, 1994.

(3.) BY the impugned order, it was held by learned Magistrate that the article published under the authorship of accused against whom complaint was filed by the opposite party made the petitioners liable for prosecution in the sense that as Publisher and Printer, and Editor, it was their responsibility to ensure that no defamatory article was published. Thereafter on the conclusion that there was refusal to receive the summonses, non -bailable warrants were issued.