K. K. MISHRA v. THE STATE OF MADHYA PRADESH & Anr.

From the Judgment and Order dated 24.07.2017 of the High Court of M.P. Principal Seat at Jabalpur in CRR No. 515 of 2017. A B C D E F G H 318 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2018] 5 S.C.R. K. T. S. Tulsi, Vivek Tankha, Sr. Advs., Vaibhav Srivastava, Kuber Boddh, Prateek Khandelwal, Aman Pandey, Siddhanth, Kabir Dixit, Advs. for the Appellant. P. S. Narasimha, ASG, Purushaindra Kaurav, Adv. Genl., Mishra Saurabh, AAG, Mukul Rohatgi, Sr. Adv., Ms. Swarupama Chaturvedi, B. N. Dubey, Ankit Kr. Lal, Advs. for the Respondents. The Judgment of the Court was delivered by RANJAN GOGOI, J. 1. Leave granted.

2. By the order impugned, the High Court of Madhya Pradesh has negatived the challenge made by the appellant to the maintainability of a criminal prosecution/proceeding instituted under Section 199(2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (hereinafter referred to as “Cr.P.C.”) alleging commission of offences under Sections 499 and 500 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (hereinafter referred to as “IPC”) against the Hon’ble Chief Minister of the State of Madhya Pradesh. The June, 2014 complaint has been filed by the Public Prosecutor on 24 before the District & Sessions Judge, Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh) after receipt of sanction from the Competent Authority of the State Government June, 2014. on the very same day i.e. 24

3. At the very outset, we deem it necessary to put on record that during the pendency of the present proceedings the prosecution against the accused appellant has been concluded by the learned Special Judge, Prevention of Corruption Act, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh by judgment and order dated 17 November, 2017 in Sessions Trial No.573 of 2014. The accused appellant has been found guilty of the commission of the offence punishable under Section 500 IPC and,accordingly, he has been sentenced to undergo simple imprisonment for two years with fine of Rs.25,000/- (Rupees twenty thousand). We are told at the Bar that an appeal against the said order is presently pending before the High Court of Madhya Pradesh and the accused appellant is presently on bail.

4. At this stage, we would like to recapitulate our order dated 5 January, 2018 reiterating that, notwithstanding the conviction of the accused appellant, this Court would like to consider the question of the validity of the very initiation of the prosecution against the appellant. A B C D E F G H K. K. MISHRA v. THE STATE OF MADHYA PRADESH & ANR. [RANJAN GOGOI, J.] 319

5. While Section 499 IPC defines and deals with the offence of defamation, punishment for the said offence is provided by Section 500 IPC. In the present case, the alleged offence of defamation against the Hon’ble Chief Minister of the State of Madhya Pradesh, according to the prosecution, has been committed by the accused appellant on account of certain statements made with regard to the Hon’ble Chief Minister in the course of a Press Conference that the appellant had addressed as a Chief Spokesperson of the Indian National Congress, Madhya Pradesh organized on 21 June, 2014 at the MP Congress Committee, 1461 Indra Bhawan Shivaji Nagar, Bhopal.

6. Though a reading of the transcript of the Press Conference, which has been placed on record, may indicate a reference to the Hon’ble Chief Minister in respect of several acts and events, for the purposes of the present case we will,necessarily, have to confine ourselves to only three statements allegedly made in the Press Conference with reference to the Hon’ble Chief Minister. This is because in the order granting sanction/permission dated 24 June, 2014 for filing of a complaint under Section 199 (2) Cr.P.C. it is only the aforesaid three statements which have been taken note of as being defamatory and, therefore, taken cognizance for purpose of grant of sanction/permission under Section 199(2) of the Cr.P.C. The aforesaid three statements mentioned in the June, 2014 granting sanction/permission are as follows: order dated 24 “1. 19 amongst the Transport Inspection appointed in Madhya Pradesh are from the in-laws house Gondiya (Maharashtra) of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

2. Conversation has been made with the accused persons of the Vyapam Scam from the mobile of Sanjay Chouhan son of Phoolsingh Chouhan-Mama of the Chief Minister Sh. Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

3. Conversation has been made from the Chief Minister’s house by an influential woman through 139 phone calls with the accused of Vyapam Scam Nitin Mahendra, Pankaj Trivedi, Lakshmikant Sharma.”

7. Section 199(2) Cr.P.C. provides for a special procedure with regard to initiation of a prosecution for offence of defamationcommitted against the constitutional functionaries and public servants mentioned therein. However, the offence alleged to have been committed must be A B C D E F G H 320 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2018] 5 S.C.R. in respect of acts/conduct in the discharge of public functions of the concerned functionary or public servant, as may be. The prosecution under Section 199 (2) Cr.P.C. is required to be initiated by the Public Prosecutor on receipt of a previous sanction of the Competent Authority in the State/Central Government under Section 199 (4) of the Code.Such a complaint is required to be filed in a Court of Sessions that is alonevested with the jurisdiction to hear and try the alleged offence and even without the case being committed to the said court by a subordinate Court. Section 199(2) Cr.P.C. read with section 199(4) Cr.P.C., therefore, envisages a departure from the normal rule of initiation of a complaint before a Magistrate by the affected personsalleging the offence of defamation. The said right, however, is saved even in cases of the category of persons mentioned in sub-section (2) of Section 199 Cr.P.C. by sub-section (6) thereof.

8. The rationale for the departure from the normal rule has been elaborately dealt with by this Court in a judgment of considerable vintage in P.C. Joshi and another vs. The State of Uttar Pradesh1 [paragraph 9]. The core reason which this Court held to be the rationale for the special procedure engrafted by Section 199(2) Cr.P.C. is that the offence of defamation committed against the functionaries mentioned therein is really an offence committed against the State as the same relate to the discharge of public functions by such functionaries. The State, therefore, would be rightly interested in pursuing the prosecution; hence the special provision and the special procedure. P.C. Joshi (supra), however, specifically dealt with the provisions of Section 198B of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898 (“old Code”) which are pari materia with the provisions of Section 199 of the Cr.P.C. (“new Code”).

9. The above would require the Court to consider as to whether the statements made by the accused appellant in the Press Conference which have been taken note of in the order dated 24 June, 2014 granting sanction/ permission can legitimately be said to be attributable or connected with the discharge of public functions of the office of the Hon’ble Chief Minister. In other words, whether the said statements have any reasonable nexus with the discharge of Official duties by the Hon’ble Chief Minister. 1 AIR 1961 SC 387 A B C D E F G H K. K. MISHRA v. THE STATE OF MADHYA PRADESH & ANR. [RANJAN GOGOI, J.] 321

10. The problem of identification and correlation of the acts referred to in an allegedly defamatory statement and those connected with the discharge of public functions/official duties by the holder of the public office is, by no means, an easy task. The sanction contemplated under Section 199(4) Cr.P.C. though in the opposite context i.e. to prosecute an offender for offences committed against a public servant may have to be understood by reference to the sanction contemplated by Section 197 Cr.P.C. which deals with sanction for prosecution of a public servant. There is a fair amount of similarity between the conditions precedent necessary for accord of sanction in both cases though the context may be different, indeed, the opposite. While dealing with the requirement of sanction under Section 197 Cr.P.C. this Court in Urmila Devi vs. Yudhvir Singh2 had taken the following view which may have some relevance to the present case. “59.The expression “official duty” would in the absence of any statutory definition, therefore, denote a duty that arises by reason of an office or position of trust or authority held by a person. It follows that in every case where the question whether the accused was acting in discharge of his official duty or purporting to act in the discharge of such a duty arises for consideration, the court will first examine whether the accused was holding an office and, if so, what was the nature of duties cast upon him as holder of any such office. It is only when there is a direct and reasonable nexus between the nature of the duties cast upon the public servant and the act constituting an offence that the protection under Section 197 CrPC may be available and not otherwise. Just because the accused is a public servant is not enough. A reasonable connection between his duties as a public servant and the acts complained of is what will determine whether he was acting in discharge of his official duties or purporting to do so, even if the acts were in excess of what was enjoined upon him as a public servant within the meaning of that expression under Section 197 of the Code.”

11. If the allegedly defamatory statements, already extracted, in respect of which sanction has been accorded to the Public Prosecutor to file the complaint against the appellant under Section 199 (2) Cr.P.C. June, 2014 are to be carefully looked into, by the order dated 24 according to us, none of the said statements, even if admitted to have been made by the appellant, can be said to have any reasonable 2 (2013) 15 SCC 624 A B C D E F G H 322 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2018] 5 S.C.R. A B C D E F G connection with the discharge of public duties by or the office of the Hon’ble Chief Minister. The appointment of persons from the area/place to which the wife of the Hon’ble Chief Minister belongs and the making of phone calls by the relatives of the Hon’ble Chief Minister have no reasonable nexus with the discharge of public duties by or the office of the Hon’ble Chief Minister. Such statements may be defamatory but then in the absence of a nexus between the same and the discharge of public duties of the office,the remedy under Section 199(2) and 199(4) Cr.P.C. will not be available.It is the remedy saved by the provisions of sub-section (6) of Section 199 Cr.P.C. i.e. a complaint by the Hon’ble Chief Minister before the ordinary Court i.e. the Court of Magistrate which would be available and could have been resorted to.

12. There is yet another dimension to the case. In Subramanian Swamy vs. Union of India3 one of the grounds on which the challenge to the constitutional validity of Section 499 and 500 IPC was sustained by this Court was the understanding that Section 199(2) and 199(4) Cr.P.C. provide an inbuilt safeguard which require the Public Prosecutor to scan and be satisfied with the materials on the basis of which a complaint for defamation is to be filed by him acting as the Public Prosecutor. In this regard, an earlier decision of this Court in Bairam Muralidhar vs. State of Andhra Pradesh4 while dealing with Section 321 Cr.P.C. (i.e. Withdrawal from prosecution) was considered by this Court and it was held as follows: “…It is ordinarily expected that the Public Prosecutor has a duty to scan the materials on the basis of which a complaint for defamation is to be filed. He has a duty towards the court. This Court in Bairam Muralidhar Vs. State of A.P [(2014) 10 SCC 380] while deliberating on Section 321 CrPC has opined that the Public Prosecutor cannot act like a post office on behalf of the State Government. He is required to act in good faith, peruse the materials on record and form an independent opinion. It further observed that he cannot remain oblivious to his lawful obligations under the Code and is required to constantly remember his duty to the court as well as his duty to the collective. While filing cases under Sections 499 and 500 IPC, he is expected to maintain that independence and not act as a machine.” (underlining is ours) H