CHANDER KAMAL SEKHRI Vs. ASHOK SETH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Vide this common order, I intend to dispose of three petitions i.e. CRM-M Nos.28676 and 31354 of 2015 and No.25493 of 2016 as common questions of law and facts are involved for adjudication.

(2.) Brief facts of the case are that the respondent/complainant namely Ashok Seth filed a criminal complaint before the trial Court against seven accused persons (petitioners) under Sections 499, 500 and 120-B of the Indian Penal Code (in short 'IPC') with the allegation that the complainant is a law abiding citizen and is a married person having grown up children. The accused Nos.2 to 4 are the Directors of accused No.1 i.e. Hind Samachar Limited which is the Editor, Printer and Publisher of a daily newspaper (Punjab Kesari and Jalandhar Kesari) having a large scale circulation in various places of Punjab including Jalandhar. The accused No.5 is working as a Reporter of accused Nos.1 to 4 who are the Directors, Printers and Publishers of petitioner No.1. The accused No.5 is having its office at Kapurthala. It is further stated in the complaint that all the accused persons hatched a criminal conspiracy in order to malign the image and to harm the reputation of the complainant, in the eyes of general public, his relatives, friends as well as business associates and in pursuance to the conspiracy, the accused Nos.1 to 4 published a news item in the Daily Jalandhar Kesari version of the Punjab Kesari newspaper dated 17.11.2011 containing defamatory allegations against the complainant. The said news item was published by accused Nos.1 to 4 by mentioning the name of accused No.5 as a Reporter of the news and accused Nos.6 and 7 were the informer of the said news to accused No.5. It is further stated that the said news item was published with ulterior motive to defame the complainant and malign his image. For a reference, the news item is reproduced as below:-

(3.) It is further stated in the complaint that despite the fact that accused persons know that the same is not correct, it was published with a heading "CHEQUE FAIL HONEPAR JALANDHAR NIWASI KO KAID" i.e. "a Resident of Jalandhar got imprisonment on account of dishonour of a cheque." It is further stated in the complaint that as per the news item the complainant had given two cheques to accused No.6 - Ajay Gupta for an amount of Rs.5.50 lacs in the year 200 Out of the two cheques, one was for an amount of Rs.2.80 lacs and the other was for an amount of Rs.2.70 lacs. The cheque having value of Rs.2.70 lacs was returned back due to the bank memo giving a ground that the account is closed and in this regard in a complaint filed by the abovesaid Ajay Gupta, the trial Court convicted the complainant on 08.11.2011 for two years and imposed a fine of Rs.10,000/-. The complainant has further stated that the story given by accused No.6 - Ajay Gupta was totally incorrect as the complainant was acquitted qua cheque No.16870 having value of Rs.2.80 lacs vide judgment dated 05.06.2009 passed by the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Kapurthala. However, the accused No.6 got the news item published with regard to both the cheques mentioning that the complainant has been convicted on account of dishonour of both the cheques.