Allahabad HC Stays Defamation Case Against 'Hindustan' Newspaper Chief Editor Over Report On Rly Officer's Arrest

A bench of Justice Brij Raj Singh passed the order while hearing a plea filed by Shekhar seeking quashing of the entire proceedings of a complaint case, as well as the summoning order passed by the Civil Judge and Judicial Magistrate in Gonda.

Briefly, the issue concerns a news report on the arrest of Dileep Kumar Verma, the complainant in the defamation case. Essentially, Verma was working as a Station Superintendent at a Railway Station where certain Sheesham trees were allegedly illicitly cut down.

Therefore, an FIR was registered against Verma under Section 3 of the Railway Property Act, 1966. Verma was arrested but later secured bail.

Since applicant-Shekhar's Newspaper published a news item detailing the facts of this criminal case and Verma's subsequent arrest, Verma filed a criminal complaint in 2020.

Taking cognizance of the matter, the trial court in Gonda issued a summoning order in December last year directing Shekhar to face trial under Section 500 IPC for defamation.

Before the HC, his counsel argued that there was no specific statement directed against him and that no specific role had been assigned to him in the alleged offence.

It was also contended that the fact of the complainant's arrest for the illicit cutting of trees was actually supported by the averments made in the defamation complaint itself.

Furthermore, it was submitted that this fact was corroborated by the statements recorded under Section 200 and Section 202 of the CrPC.

It was also argued that even if the prosecution's case is taken at face value, the published news was strictly based on a registered criminal case.

Against the backdrop of these submissions, the Court observed that the matter requires consideration.

Thus, while issuing a notice to the complainant, the bench granted interim protection to the Editor-in-Chief Shekhar by staying the proceedings of the case till the next date of hearing.