Petitioners are the accused in C.C.318 of 1991 on the file of the Court of the Additional Judicial Magistrate of the First Class, Thalassery. First respondent filed the complaint under Ss.500 and 501 read with S.34 of the I.P.C. alleging that the news, item published in the Deshabhimani Daily in its Kozhikode Edition dated 26-5-1991 with respect to the cremation of Rajiv Gandhi, President of the Congress (I) is false,

mischievous and politically motivated. The report slated about the insufficiency of sandal wood pieces for the cremation. The first respondent alleged that on account of the publication of the said news report the members of the Indian National Congress (1) have been lowered down in public estimation and that this is per se defamatory.

2. Section 199 Cr.P.C. lays down an exception to the general rule that a complaint can be filed by any body whether aggrieved or not and modifies that rule by permitting only an aggrieved person to make a complaint [See G. Narasimhan v. T.V. Chokkappa (AIR 1972 SC 2609)]. With regard to offences under Ss.499 to 502 coming within Chap. XXI of the I.P.C. an aggrieved person alone can file the complaint. Thus, from S.199 (1) it