The right to free expression by the press is not absolute and must be balanced against an individual's right to privacy and reputation; defamatory statements must be substantiated.

JUDGMENT :

A.A. NAKKIRAN, J.

1. This Civil Suit has been filed for the relief as stated in the prayer.

2. The case of the Plaintiff, as set out, in the plaint is as follows:-

(i) The plaintiff is a long lasting member of a reputed political party in Tamil Nadu viz., Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam since 1957. In view of his sincere and hard work, he was elected as the Secretary of the then United Chennai District DMK and continued in the said post from 1982 to 1993. In the mean time, he was elected as the Member of Rajya Sabha in the year 1986 and served as the Member of the Parliament during the period from 1986 to 1992. Thereafter, he was elected as the Member of the Lok Sabha from the South Madras Parliamentary Constituency in 1996 and was sworn as the Union Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas during the period from 1996 to 1998. In the year 1998, he was once again elected as Member of Parliament for the second time to the XII Lok Sabha from the South Madras Parliament Constituency. During the year 1998-1999, he served as a Member of Committee on Railways and Member of Consultative Committee of Ministry of Home Affairs. Once again he was elected from the same constituency as a Member of Parliament to the XIII Lok Sabha in the year 1999. Consequently, he joined the Union Cabinet and served as Cabinet Minister for Environment and Forests from 13.10.1999 to 20.12.2003. While he was the Union Minister for Environment and Forests, he was also the President of the United Nations Framework Convention on climate change in which Ministers of 190 countries from all over the world were members. He was again elected as the Member of Parliament for the fourth time to the XIV Lok Sabha from the same South Madras Parliamentary Constituency and he served as the Union Minister for Shipping, Road Transport and Highways during the years 2004 to 2009. In the year 2009, he has been yet again elected as Member of Parliament from the Sriperumbudur Parliamentary Constituency in the XV Lok Sabha elections and he is at present serving as Chairman, Standing Committee on Railways, Member of Committee on Ethics, Member of Committee on Social Justice and Member of the Joint Parliamentary Committee. It is on account of the plaintiff's tireless work, vibrant political and social activities with an indefatigable zeal and enthusiasm, earnestness and loyalty towards his party under the renowned leadership of Dr.Kalaignar M.Karunanithi for more than five decades, he has reached the pinnacle of fame and reputation.

(ii) The 1st defendant is the Editor of the bi-weekly Tamil magazine "Junior Vikatan" published from Chennai and it has got wide coverage of readers. The 2nd defendant is the Publisher of the above magazine and the 3rd defendant is the Printer of the same. All of them have habitually indulged in publishing various defamatory news items time and again in their earlier issues, and despite the plaintiff bringing those malicious and defamatory news items to their notice, they have failed to render due apology. Therefore, the plaintiff has initiated various legal proceedings against the defendants for defamation and the same are pending before the competent Courts. The 1st defendant in their magazine "Junior Vikatan" dated 28.03.2012 published by the 2nd defendant and printed by the 3rd defendant, have brought out a malicious and defamatory news article under the guise of replying to a question of one Mr.R.Subramanian, Guduvanchery under the caption "Kazhugaar bathilgal" which is extracted hereunder:

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