Lawyer gets one month jail in defamation case filed by IPS officer

Mumbai, Jun 28 (PTI) A magistrate court here on Friday convicted a city-based advocate in a defamation case filed by IPS officer K M M Prasanna over the allegations of his involvement in a drug syndicate.

Chief metropolitan magistrate (Esplanade court), Hemant Joshi, also sentenced the accused advocate - Naveen Chomal - to one month of imprisonment after holding him guilty under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) section 500 (defamation) and also imposed a fine of Rs 5000 on him.

The sentence was, however, suspended for them to challenge the verdict before the higher court.

In March 2015, the police had arrested constable Dharmaraj Kalokhe in Satara in connection with the possession of around 12 kilograms of narcotic substance.

A few days later, the Marine Drive police, probing the case, produced the constable before a magistrate court here after securing a transfer warrant.

During his production, advocate Naveen Chomal submitted an application before the court, claiming that the Satara police had thoroughly questioned Kalokhe about the involvement of the IPS officer in the drug racket.

On the basis of the application, a news article of Prasanna being involved in a drug racket was published in a leading newspaper. The officer claimed it defamed him and caused irreparable damage to his reputation.

Subsequently, the IPS officer sent notices to the accused, who responded that the statements were made on the instructions of his client Kalokhe.

Prasanna then took up the matter with the Maharashtra Director General of Police (DGP).

The necessary inquiries were made with the Satara police, which confirmed that they neither interrogated Kalokhe regarding the alleged involvement of the IPS officer in the crime nor did they have any occasion to question the constable in relation to the same.

Prasanna then filed a complaint under the IPC section 500 against the lawyer.

The court, after taking into consideration all the evidence, said, "It is apparent that the imputation in question concerning the complainant consisted of words spoken and intended to be read and that it emanated from the accused and the accused got it published with full knowledge that it would harm the reputation of the complainant." Therefore, it can be safely concluded that, accused has committed the offence of defamation, it said. PTI AVI NP