AMAR SINGH Vs. NARANJAN LAL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) NIRANJAN Lal complainant, respondent in this petition, and the petitioners were partners in business and were running a cinema under the name and style of 'Ram Sham Theatre' in village Pundri Fatehpur in Haryana in 1972. A dispute arose between the parties during the currency of that business. Niranjan Lal complainants and Smt. Narmada Rani w/o Prem Chand Shorewala filed a suit against the petitioners in the court of Sub-Judge, Kaithal, on 1st of March, 1976 for dissolution of partnership and rendition of accounts. An application on behalf of Smt. Narmada Rani for the appointment of a Receiver was filed. Reply to that application was filed on 10th of March, 1976 by the petitioners alleging that they had paid Rs. one lac to Niranjan Lal and Smt. Narmada Rani for payment of their share in the partnership firm, for which no receipt was issued. Written statement in that case was also filed by the petitioners on 4th of October, 1979, the relevant portion of which is as under :-

(2.) NIRANJAN Lal filed a complaint in the court of Judicial Magistrate Ist Class, Kaithal, under section 500 of the Indian Penal Code stating that the above-quoted imputation was made against them without any basis with a mala fide intention to defame them and that the petitioner and Prem Chand Shorewala were respectable persons and were held in high esteem by the public. On behalf of the complainant an application for condonation of the limitation was also filed. The learned Magistrate summoned Amar Singh and Gautam Muni as accused after examining the complaint under Section 204 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, on the basis of the material placed before him.

(3.) AFTER the remand of the case, the application was decided by the learned Magistrate and he condoned the delay regarding the offence which was committed, in his view, on 10th of March, 1976. He also came to the conclusion that the offence of defamation was also committed on 4th of October, 1979, when the written statement was filed. On appreciation of arguments advanced on behalf of the complainant and examining the allegations he formed an opinion that the first part of the above-quoted passage from the written statement regarding the payment of Rs. one lac did not amount to defamation to attract criminal proceedings. The reason advanced by the Magistrate is : "As stated above such like pleadings are generally raised by the contesting parties in the civil suits and at this stage it cannot be said that the aforesaid allegation was made with an intention to defame the complainant and Prem Chand Shorewala". Regarding the second part-became to the conclusion that this was made with an idea to harass the respondents and to defame them. He, therefore, summoned the respondents under section 500, Indian Penal Code, for making allegations in the second part. In this view, the offence of defamation was committed on 10th of March, 1979, for which he condoned the delay for filing the complaint, and on 4th of October, 1979, when the reply to the application and written statement was filed.