The offence of defamation under Section 499 IPC requires the accused to have the intention to harm the reputation of the person concerned and to have published the defamatory statement.

Smt. Anju Kulshreshtha has preferred this application under Section 482, Cr. P. C with the prayer that the complaint and further proceedings in case No. 477 of 1991, under Sections 500, 504, 506 and 511, I. P. C pending in the Court of Chief Judicial Magistrate, Jhansi, may be quashed.

2. List has been revised. Nobody has appeared on behalf of the applicant but Sri Rajendra Asthana has put in appearance on behalf, of the opposite-party No. 1 Com plainant, namely, Harvijai Singh and has argued that the complaint may be permitted to proceed and the order of the Magistrate by which the applicant Smt. Anju Kulshreshtha has been summoned to appear may be sustained.

3. Having perused the materials it cannot be said that even prima offence stands disclosed which may be said to be punishable under Section 500 I. P. C and, therefore the application has to succeed.

4. Translated into English the gist of the allegations made in the complaint which consists of 17 paragraphs is as under :

the complaint is being filed on behalf of Smt. Vimala Srivastava (64 years) who may not be compelled to appear in public as per the local customs and manners. Smt. Vimla Srivastva has four daughters. The complainant is a retired Subedar from the Army and his family commands good reputation.

the accused sent a registered letter on 22nd February, 1990 which was received on 24th February, 1990 at 2. 30 p. m. addressed to Smt. Vimla Srivastava at her residence at Jhansi. When the aforesaid letter received by her she got fainted. The family members present at that time and one Sri Rameshwar Prasad Sahu, an Electrician, rushed to her and gave her first-aid and read out the contents of the letter which was the cause of her unconsciousness. The letter was written with the object to assassinate the character of Smt. Vimla Srivastava. The contents of the letter are false and defamatory and Smt. Vimla Srivastava is adamant to commit suicide because of that allegations which were detailed as under: -

" (a) Eaisa mat sochiyega ki hamey pata nahi hai ki hamari jewellery apney chura li hai aur apko eaisa kartey Meghna ney dekha bhi hai vah bechari to soch bhi nahi sakti thi ki aap suitcase sey jewellery nikal rahi hai.

(b) Soch a bhi na tha ki apney apna kaam kar liya hai.

(c) Aap kya yah apni beti key saath bhi karti hai.

(d) Apki harkato ka to ham logo ko salo sey pata hai, 2,00,600 rupiya ka va choti moti cheezo ka nuksaan sirf do karno sey sah jatey they.

(e) Aap ney kab kab kyakiya cheezey churayi hai sab pata hai sirf hamey hi nahi balki kayi logo ko mami lila mausi barey mama aur nanaji apney raju ki shadi mey bhi hath saf kiya aur Dinesh Chacha ki maut par bhi kya apke eman so gaya hai. "

some exchange of notices took place followed by some other registered letters. The imputations in the letter, dated 22-2-1990 are false and defamatory written with criminal intentions to Smt. Vimla Srivastava who is permanently living at Jhansi, therefore, conferring jurisdiction to the court at Jhansi. Smt. Vimla Srivastava has become sick from the time she received the said letter and her blood pressure has gone high. She is not talcing the usual diet. Her health has been materially deteriorated and she can commit suicide at any moment. Her life has become a hell. The members of her family have been defamed by the accused and their reputation has been lowered down in relations, friends and society. "

5. One of the witnesses examined under Section 202, Cr. P. C was Rameshwar Prasad Sahu. A copy of his statement was filed as Annexure-CI to the affidavit in support of this application. His statement was that it was a registered closed letter which was opened by Smt. Vimla Srivastava, she read it herself and after reading it she fell down. He says that after she had fallen down, he took the letter from Smt. Vimla Srivastava and read it himself as a result of which the prestige of the family of Smt. Vimla Srivastava was lowered down in his estimation.

6. The ingredients