No case of defamation for comments on banned organisation like PFI: Kerala High Court

The Kerala High Court recently observed that no case of defamation can be made out for comments on banned organisations like the Popular Front of India (PFI) [Bharat Prakashan (Delhi) Ltd. & Ors. v. CP Mohammed Basheer & Anr.]..Justice PV Kunhikrishnan said that publications on the PFI cannot be called defamatory as the organisation had been declared as an "unlawful association" by the Central government in September 2022. "Admittedly, the Popular Front of India is a banned association in India. Hence it cannot be said that there is defamation to a banned association because of certain publication by the petitioners," the Court observed. The Court explained that the offence of defamation as defined in Section 499 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) would have to affect a "person" and that PFI could have come under the definition of person, but only before it was banned by the government. "When ‘the Popular Front of India’ itself is banned in India by the Central Government, such a banned association will not come within the purview of Section 499 of the Indian Penal Code, because, a banned association has no legal entity," the Court stated. .Popular Front of India is a banned association in India. A banned association has no legal entity.Kerala High Court.The Court made the observation while considering a petition moved by news organisation Bharat Prakashan (Delhi) Ltd. and five of its officials seeking to quash a defamation case filed against them by CP Mohammed Basheer, the General Secretary of PFI. The allegations against the petitioners stemmed from an article in a publication named Organiser in which it was stated that PFI was a new avatar of the banned SIMI and that PFI were responsible for terrorist recruitments in Jammu and Kashmir, the Bangalore serial blasts, the hand chopping of Professor TJ Joseph, etc. .Although the Court observed at the outset that there can be no case of defamation for comments against a banned organisation, it went through the article in question. It went on to find that the allegations in the article were nothing more than what was already available in the public domain at the time of publishing. Therefore, the Court deemed it fit to allow the petition and quash the defamation case. "In such circumstances, according to me, a complaint of defamation against the petitioners will not stand from a banned organization," the Court said. .The petitioners were represented by Senior Advocate Sasthamangalam S Ajithkumar and advocate VS Thoshin. Basheer was represented by advocate EA Haris. Public Prosecutor Sangeetharaj NR appeared for the State. .[Read Order]