A court has no jurisdiction to take cognizance of an offence of defamation except upon a complaint made by the person aggrieved.

1. Through the medium of this petition under Sec 561-A Cr. P. C. the petitioner seeks quashing of the complaint and the process by Chief Judicial Magistrate, Rajouri, on the basis thereof in the case titled Kamla Devi Vs. Master Roshan Lal, for an offence under Section 500/501 R. P. C.

2. The petitioner is the editor of the Urdu Newspaper "DAILY SACH" Jammu. In his newspaper dated 12-5- 1981, an article was published in which certain comments were made with regard to the decision "of a case titled Suraj Parkash Vs. Romesh Chander and ors by the District Asstt. Custodian, Rajouri, who had allowed an application filed by Suraj Parkash pertaining to some allotment in favour of the evacuees. The said Suraj Parkash is the husband of the complainant. It was commented upon in the Article that the decision had been made in favour of Suraj Parkash etc. by the District Asstt. Custodian, Rajouri, wrongly and after receiving illegal gratification. On the basis of that article the complainant, Shrimati Kamla Devi w/o Suraj Parkash, filed a complaint in the court of Chief Judl. Magistrate, Rajouri, on 5-10-1981 alleging that the article in question contained false imputations and was intended to convey that the complainant had obtained the judgment in her favour after giving bribe of Rs. 4000/- which was a false and baseless allegation. That by the publication of the Article, the complainant and her family had been lowered in the estimation of other and considerable harm had been caused to her reputation. That on coming to know about the article which had been published in the news-paper dated 12-5-1981, she had filed the complaint.

3. The learned Chief Judicial Magistrate after recording the preliminary statement of one witness and perusing the complaint vide order dated 5-10-1981 found a prima facie case under Sec. 500/501 R.P.C. and issued process against the petitioner.

4. Mr. H.L. Bhagotra has appeared for the petitioner while no body appeared for the respondent though Mr. K.S. Puri had put in his appearance on behalf of the respondent and had filed his Power of Attorney on her behalf.

5. Learned counsel for the petitioner submitted that without going into the merits of the case and without even considering whether or not the allegations contained in the complaint prima facie disclose the commission of an offence under Sec. 500/501 R.P.C. there is a bar at the thresh-hold for the continuation of the proceedings in the trial court and in view of that bar the proceedings initiated on the basis of the complaint deserve to be quashed. Learned counsel has in that connection relied upon the provisions of Sec. 198 Cr.P.C. which read thus :

198. Prosecution for breach of contract, defamation and offences against marriage.-

No court shall take cognizance of an offence falling under Chapter XIX or Chapter XXI of the Ranbir Penal Code, or under sections 493 to 496 (both inclusive) of the same Code, except upon a complaint made by some person aggrieved by such offence :

6. Provided that where the person so aggrieved is a woman who, according to the customs and manners of the country, ought not to be compelled to appear in public, or where such person is under the age of eighteen years or is an idiot or lunatic, or is from sickness or infirmity unable to make a complaint, some other person may, with the leave of the Court make a complaint on his or her behalf."

7. A plain reading of the Section shows that it regulates the competence of the court and bars its jurisdiction in certain cases except in compliance therewith. What the section does is to prohibit courts from taking cognizance except upon a complaint made by the person aggrieved, subject to the exceptions contained in the provisions. Section 198 Cr.P.C. imposes a prohibition with exceptions and places a limitation on the ordinary law that any person can set the criminal law in motion but the section is limited only to offences falling under Chapters XIX & XXI. An offence under Section 500/501 RPC i

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