BHAGWAN SHREE RAJUEESH Vs. STATE OF BIHAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The moot question in this quashing application is. Who can prosecute under Section 500 of the Indian Penal Code when a deceased is defamed ?

(2.) The complainant, a Congress Worker and devotee of Mahatma Gandhi, felt hurt on reading a speech of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh published in a Hindi Weekly news Magazine 'Current' from Bombay in its issue dated the 2nd September, 1978, which reads as follows :

(3.) To begin with what is defamation ? The classical definition of the term 'defamation', which is both libel and slander, is "false statement about a man to his discredit" See Scott v. Sampson, 1882 (8) QBD 491, Cave, J. Lord Atkin in the case of Sim v. Stretch, 1936 (52) TLR 669 at p. 671 puts in :