The onus of proving good faith in a defamation case lies upon the accused.

JUDGMENT - SHARAD MANOHAR, J.:---The appellant before me is the original complainant whose complaint against respondent No. 1 (who will be referred to hereinafter as "the accused") for offence under section 500 of the Indian Penal Code has been turned down by the learned Judicial Magistrate, First Class, Nasik, who by his order dated 14th January, 1980 has acquitted the accused of the said offence.

2. The facts are very few. On 24-9-1974, the accused sent an application to the Revenue Minister, Maharashtra State, Bombay. Certain statement made in the said application and particularly statements in paragraphs 3, 4, and 6 of the same were, according to the complainant, of a defamatory character, harming the reputation of the complainant. By the said application the accused requested the Hon'ble Revenue Minister, to make appropriate enquiry in relation to the information contained in the said application. By the said application the accused also requested the Hon'ble Revenue Minister to take appropriate action against the complainant in his jurisdiction as the Revenue Minister. Copies of the said application are also sent to the Hon'ble Prime Minister of India, to one of the Members of Parliament, to one of the Members of the Legislative Assembly, as also to the Collector of Nasik, and the Income-Tax Officers Nasik. The complainant got information about this application made by the accused and hence on 20-7-1974 he filed the instant complaint out of which the present appeal arises, for suitable action against the accused for the offence under section 500 of the Indian Penal Code.

3. It appears that the case was tried by the learned Magistrate as a summary case. Process was issued against the accused. Thereafter evidence was taken. The complainant was examined and he was allowed to be cross-examined by the accused. After the cross-examination of the complainant, the learned Magistrate was satisfied that although the application made by the accused date 24-9-1974 (Exh. 21 in these proceedings ) was admitted by the accused, still since the statements made in the said application fell within the ambit of Exception 8 to the provisions of the operative part of section 499 of the Indian Penal Code, no offence punishable under section 500 of the Indian Penal Code was made out. By is order dated 14-1-1980, therefore, he acquitted the accused of the offence alleged against him. The present application is filed against the said order of acquittal.

4. Before referring to the arguments advanced at the bar, I must state certain positions about which there was no dispute across the bar. The fact that the impugned application was made by the accused to the Hon'ble Revenue Minister and that the copies of the same were sent to the various persons and authorities is not disputed. Further, the fact that some of the statements made in the application were derogatory of the complainant's character and were likely to harm his reputation in the eyes of others is not disputed. As a matter of fact, it was not seriously disputed that if the statements were not protected by any of the exceptions to section 499 Indian Penal Code, they would fall squarely within the ambit of the operative part of section 499 and in that event the offence of defamation would be complete. This is the reason why I have not set out the various statements in the application (Exh. 21) in respect of which the complainant had made grievance before the Court.

In this view of the matter, the only questions that are required to be considered are as to :

(a) whether the statements which are prima facie of a defamatory character, fall within the ambit of Exception No. 8 of section 499 of the Indian Penal Code and, hence are taken out of the purview of the operative part of section 499; and

(b) whether there exists any other exception to section 499 of the Indian Penal Code which governs the facts of the case and takes the case out of the mischief of section 499 of the Indian Penal Code.

5. Mr

Click Here to Read the rest of this document