Kerala Court August 1959 Judgments

Sankaran Chettiar Vs. K. Ramakrishna Pillai

Court: Kerala

Reported in: AIR1960Ker141; 1960CriLJ479

ORDERT.K. Joseph, J. 1. The petitioner who was the 8th accused in C. C. No. 79 of 1956 on the file of the Sub-Divisional Magistrate's Court, Trivandrum. was convicted under Section 501, Indian Penal Code, and sentenced to pay a fine of Rs. 51/-. The conviction and sentence were confirmed in appeal and he has come in revision. The respondent was not present at the hearing. 2. The petitioner and seven others were prosecuted on the complaints of the respondent that a defamatory statement was made and published by the accused. The respondent is the President of the Trivandrum City Corporation Workers' Union. The pamphlet (Ex. P-1) wherein the defamatory statement was made purported to be one issued by thirty scavengers of the City Corporation and it was printed in a press owned by the 8th accused. Seven out of the thirty persons whose names appear at the end of the pamphlet wore accused 1 to 7. They were acquitted on the ground that they were illiterate people and that the necessary mens r...