The inherent jurisdiction of the High Court under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure to quash a criminal proceeding is to be exercised in a proper case to prevent an abuse of the process of the court or to secure the ends of justice.

B. K. BEHERA, J.

( 1 ) THE petitioners invoke the inherent jurisdiction of this Court under section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (for short, 'the Code') to quash the order passed by the learned Sub Divisional Judicial Magistrate, Khurda, taking cognisance of the offences punishable under Sections 500 and 301 of the Indian Penal Code on a petition of complaint made by the opposite party, a Junior Engineer, Roads and Buildings, Khurda Division, in the district of Puri. An interim order of stay of further proceeding was passed by this Court on October 19, 1984 and notice was issued to the opposite party on the questions of admission and stay.

( 2 ) HAVING heard Mr. P. Palit for the petitioners and Mr. B. M. Patnaik for the opposite party and having perused the record of the Court of the learned Sub Divisional Judicial Magistrate. I do not find any prima facie case for interference at this stage by this Court under its inherent jurisdiction and in my view, there is no case for admission. As the learned counsel for both the sides have referred to the facts of the case and some principles of law, I feel myself called upon to briefly give the reasons for my conclusion.

( 3 ) THE petitioner No. 1 is the editor and the petitioner No. 3 is the publisher of "samaja", an Oriya daily newspaper. The petitioner No. 4 is the editor and the petitioner No. 5 is the publisher of "sunday". The petitioner No. 2 is a journalist residing at Cuttack. The opposite party has alleged in his petition of complaint and has stated under section 200 of the Code that he has been defamed by the petitioners by publication of news and articles in "samaja" and "sunday". In the weekly magazine "sunday" (11-17 March 1984), published from Calcutta and having wide circulation throughout India, it has been stated that at the instance of the complainant-opposite opposite party, Mr. G. C. Sahu, a Government contractor, supplied and carried materials to village Rameswar for construction of the house of Mr. J. B. Patnaik, the Chief Minister of Orissa and a letter purported to have been written by Mr. Sahu to the opposite party with purported xerox copies of fifteen alleged receipts had been published. It has also been alleged by the complainant-opposite party that on March 22, 1984, a news item was published at page 4 of "samaja" and a letter purported to have been written by Mr. G. C. Sahu addressed to the opposite party was published wherein it had been stated that at the instance of the complainant-opposite party, Mr. Sahu had supplied building materials worth Rs. 28,023. 50 and that he had made payments for labour at the instance of the complainant-opposite party and that the latter had assured payment of the amount within 4 to 6 months. Imputation had been made that the complainant-opposite party had placed orders in exercise of his official capacity as an engineer for the purpose of obtaining illegal benefits. Below this purported letter had been written in bold letters that at the instance and under the direction of the complainant-opposite party, the house of the Chief Minister was being constructed and that the contractor Mr. Sahu had not been paid the amount of Rs. 28,000/- and odd by the opposite party. According to the complainant-opposite party, he had nothing to do with the construction of the house and the Chief Minister and his wife Mrs. Jayanti Patnaik did not even know him. The statements made in "sunday" "samaja" were false and had been directed to defame him, as alleged by the complainant-opposite party. The petitioner Mr. S. P. Nanda had along with Dr. Radhanath Rath and a couple of other persons met Mr. Sahu and had requested him to execute a number of blank papers necessary for the purpose of making representations/memorials for getting the complainant-opposite party transferred from the Khurda sub-division and on being so induced, Mr. Sahu had executed a number of blank papers and delivered those papers on being fraudulently and dishones