JUDGMENT - M.S. Rane, J.---In a suit of damages filed against the Publisher, Editor, Printer and Author of three articles published in the newspaper Indian Express alleged to be defamatory of the plaintiff, an application for an interim injunction, pending the determination of the suit, restraining the defendants, their servants and agents from writing, publishing or re-publishing or printing any article alleging that the plaintiff is a Smuggler of arms to India or an agent of association of ISI ( i.e. Pakistans Inter-Service Intelligence) etc. and also requiring the defendants to publish apology an dretracting the allegations made in the articles.

2. It is necesary to advert to the facts in the background of the suit claim.

3. The plaintiff who claims to be a citizen of United Arab Emirates (in short UAE) and carries on business as a developer of reale state and hotel at Dubai has caused this suit instituted through his Constituted Attorney Shri Amolsen Indrasen Navalkar, serving as Assistant Managing Clerk in a firm of Advocates, stated to be of M/s Little Co., who are also advocates for the plaintiff concerned in the suit herein, claiming a sum a 20 crores as damages from the defendants for having printed and published three defamatory articles in the newspaper "Indian Express". The three articles published in Bombay edition of Indian Express are :

1) Article entitled "Pak Arms Crago on way to India" published on 4th February,1993.

2) Article entitled : "ISI behind blast ?" publilshed on 13th March, 1993: AND

3) Article entitled : "Firearms came in two consignment" published on 24th March, 1993

Xerox copies of Newspaper clippings of the above three article have been annexed as Exhibits A F and G to the plaint. The defandant No. 6 has been named as the Author of articles of Ex A and G.

4. To appreciate the objection of the plaintiff to the impugned articles, it is thought necessary to note the relevant gist and/or summary of the same.

5. (i) Article of 4th February, 1993 being Ex. A to the plaint.

The information of the said article is ascribed to "Hioghly placed Customs Intelligence Sources" and proceeds to mention that the Inter Service Intelligence of Pakistan (in short ISI hereinafter) had slipped a huge consgnment of automatic weapons for Indian shores through syndicate operating, both in UAE and Bombay and the plaintiff is named as the head of Pakistani Syndicate operating from UAE who is helping ISI to smuggle arms into India and that the plaintiff is a smuggler and who is having a vast smuggling net-work in India and Pakistan.

(ii) Article of 13th March, 1993 Ex. F to the plaint.

The said article is in a nature of a report of the Express News Service of 1st defendant which refers to its earlier article of 4th February, 1993 ((i) above) and states the Special Branch of police having flashed a message alerting that Pakistans ISI would use disruptive means to wrek havoc in the economic power house of the country and would be using Pakistani Syndicate for smuggling firearms into India, which was exposed in the article of 4th February 1993 and wherein plaintiff has been described as a head of the Pakistani Smuggling Syndicate. The said article also particularly refers to the series of explosions which rocked the city of Bombay on the previous day ;

(iii) Article of 24th March, 1993.

This article is written by the 6th defendant in all probablity after discovery of large quantity of highly explosives by the Bombay Police and mentions as having believed that the same explosive was despached to India in two separate cargoes, landing of which was done for notorious smugglers named as Mohmmad Dossa being an associate of Mustaq Memon alias Tiger a prime suspect behind recent bomb blast and Mustaq Majnu. The reference to the plaintiff with his various roles has been made which i quote therefrom :-

"Dossa and Majnu are wanter under COFEPOSA alongwith Mustaq in a goldseizure case. The supplier of the gold was the Pakistani drug traffic

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