INDIAN EXPRESS LTD Vs. STATE OF BIHAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) All the four quashing applications have been filed by the petitioners, under Section 482 of the Cr.P.C., invoking inherent jurisdiction of the Court, for setting aside the cognizance order dated 16.06.2012 passed by Mr. Sunil Kumar-II, Judicial Magistrate, 1st Class, Patna in Complaint Case No. 2028 (C) of 2011thereby taking cognizance of the offence under Sections 500 and 120B of the Indian Penal Code (in short 'I.P.C.').

(2.) Petitioners of Cr. Misc. No. 41128 of 2013, Cr. Misc. No. 38927 of 2012, Cr. Misc. No. 40032 of 2012 and Cr. Misc. No. 16924 of 2014 are the Indian Express Ltd., Mr. Vivech Goenka, Chairman & Managing Director of the Board of Directors, Shekhar Gupta & another Unni Rajen Shanker, Editor-in-Chief and Executive Editor and Raj Kamal Jha, Managing Editor of The Indian Express respectively.

(3.) The brief fact giving rise to Complaint Case No. 2028(C) of 2011, filed by S.Siddhartha, I.A.S., is that a defamatory article was published in the first page of The Indian Express, English Newspaper, on July 21, 2011 of its New Delhi Edition giving heading "MP's son to IAS's daughter, VIP kin get industrial plots in Bihar" and in caption, it is also printed "WHO GOT WHAT" mentioning a large chunk of land allotted in Gidha to one of relatives of the Secretary to the Chief Minister. The complainant at the relevant period was the Secretary to the Chief Minister of State of Bihar. The author or reporter of the sensational news is Santosh Singh, presently not a petitioner before the Court. The imputation made in the news item against the complainant turned into insinuation by publishing factually incorrect matter, a false news in context of the complainant, which is defamatory and derogatory in nature and it also defamed and harmed the reputation of the complainant. On publication of the news item, complainant received a number of calls from his friends, relatives and acquaintances from various sections of the society making enquiry from him regarding the news item published in The Indian Express causing him mental trauma and anguish. The Chief Minister, State of Bihar, after getting knowledge of the news, directed the Chief Secretary of Bihar to enquire into the matter and after thorough enquiry come to categorical finding that Bhimraja, the person having allotted the land in Gidha was not directly related to S.Siddharth.