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The high court was hearing a petition filed by former Member of Legislative Assembly KM Shaji, who sought to quash the defamation case lodged against him for making remarks against P Jayarajan of the CPI(M), who is the Secretary of the Kannur District Committee
The Kerala High Court recently observed that an elected representative who raises concerns about a murder and urges the government to take strict action against the perpetrators cannot be charged with defamation.
Justice CS Dias of the Kerala High Court was hearing a petition filed by former Member of Legislative Assembly KM Shaji, who sought to quash the defamation case lodged against him for making remarks against P Jayarajan of the CPI(M), who is the Secretary of the Kannur District Committee.
Jayarajan filed a complaint against Shaji after he came across a press conference by Shaji, the former MLA of Kannur district.
In the press conference, Shaji allegedly stated that Jayarajan had caused the death of one Sareesh, who was an accused in the Shukoor murder case.
Jayarajan claimed that Shaji, in his statement before the press, said that if Jayarajan and other leaders of the CPI were allowed to go unpunished, the death toll in the murder case would rise.
The high court was of the opinion that even if the allegations are taken at face value and in their entirety, they do not constitute an offence under Section 499 of the IPC. The bench further stated that there was no meaning or purpose in subjecting the petitioners to the trial.
In its order, the high court recorded that Shaji, being a representative of the people in his constituency, had only appealed to the government to take strict action against the perpetrators.
“It is to be remembered that the first accused was an elected representative (MLA) of the people of Azhikode constituency, one of the assembly constituencies in Kannur District. Being a representative of the people of his constituency, he appealed to the Government, for and on behalf of the masses, to take strict action against the perpetrators, to deter such persons from indulging in gruesome murders. In addition to the conspicuous absence of the necessary ingredients in the complaint to attract the above offence, by no semblance of imagination can the above statement be labelled to be an insinuation falling within the sweep of Section 499 of the IPC,” the order reads.
Therefore, the court proceeded to quash the criminal defamation proceedings against Shahji and the two media channels.
Case title: Philip Mathew Anr vs Shri P Jayarajan & Anr
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