ASHWINI KUMAR Vs. SUBHASH GOYAL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner prays for quashing of Criminal Complaint No.239-1 dated 18.12.2010 (Annexure P-1) under Section 500 I.P.C. and other proceedings arising therefrom. The respondent filed the aforesaid complaint against the present petitioner offended by a write-up that appeared in "Punjab Kesari", a Hindi daily newspaper allegedly having wide circulation throughout the country including the States of Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan, U.P. and Delhi.

(2.) The petitioner is said to have authored this write-up titled "Chautala ke Gunda Raj ki Yad Aye", the translated version of which is extracted here below :-

(3.) The complainant proclaimed himself to be an activist of a political party named Indian National Lok Dal whose leader was Shri Om Parkash Chautala against whom the aforesaid write-up was directed when he was heading the Government of the State of Haryana. The complainant further alleges that he was a Minister in the Government headed by Shri Om Parkash Chautala and held numerous positions in the hierarchy of the party. He alleges that Shri Om Parkash Chautala and his father were known political personalities, who had sacrificed a lot for the country and the State, having an immense social and political standing and therefore, the article has offended not only the sensibilities of the persons named therein, but has also lowered their image in the eyes of the public and the petitioner was confronted by numerous members of the society with the contents of the said article.