Sri P. R. Ramakrishnan, an advocate, was convicted for the offence of defamation under S. 500 of the I.P.C. The trial court sentenced him to pay a fine of Rs. 1,000/-. The Sessions Court confirmed the conviction, but reduced the sentence to Rs. 250/- Sri Ramakrishnan filed the present revision. During the pendency of this revision, Sri. Ramakrishnan passed away and his wife and children got impleaded as parties. The foundation of this criminal case is a reply which Sri. Ramakrishnan sent to the first respondent's lawyer on 2-2-1974. It was a reply to a notice sent by the aforesaid counsel to Sri Ramakrishnan. The said reply contained imputations which are per se libelous. The criminal proceedings commenced twelve years ago did not culminate even with the death of the accused. For the sake of convenience, Sri. Ramakrishnan will be referred to as 'the accused' hereinafter and the respondent will be referred to as the 'complainant.'

2. The complainant was a foreman of a chit fund scheme and the accused was one of the subscribers in a kuri piloted by the foreman. The complainant's lawyers issued a notice to the accused demanding money due from the latter. Ext. P1 is the rep