Appellant S. Antony retired from the Army as a Captain. In the course of his giving evidence in a defamation case against him and others he was cross-examined by P.W.4, Sri V.N. Narasinga Rao, Advocate for accused in this case, and two defamatory questions were put to him, namely, that he ran from the operation field in 1943 and came to India, on foot and that as the President of Ex-Servicemen Club, Vellore, he misappropriated the radio, blanket and cot belonging to the Club. The learned District Magistrate rightly found that these suggestions made to the appellant were defamatory and that the accused was not entitled to either Exception (1) or Exception (9) to section 499, Indian Penal Code, claimed by him. The first suggestion really means that the appellant was a deserter. There can be no doubt that the two suggestions are clearly defamatory.

Learned Advocate for the accused made a feeble attempt to show that the defamatory statements were true. But I see no reason to differ from the finding of the learned District Magistrate that there is no basis for the accusations made against the appellant and that the justification by truth could hardly be invoked on the facts in