HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE RAJA ELANGO Crl.P.No. 590 of 2009 Date: 19-08-2010 Between: Girish Sanghi …….. Petitioner and The State of A.P and another ……… Respondents HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE RAJA ELANGO Crl.P.No. 590 of 2009 ORDER: The petitioner, who is A-2, approached this Court with a prayer to quash the proceedings against him in C.C.No.262 of 2002 on the file of the Judicial First Class Magistrate, Mahaboobnagar, Mahaboobnagar District, registered for the offences punishable under Sections 499 and 500 of IPC. The case of the prosecution is that the complainant is said to be a doctor by profession and doing social work and A-1 is her husband. A-1 used to harass the complainant and also filed a petition against her for restitution of conjugal rights and the complainant also filed a petition for divorce and they are pending. On 23-04-2002 A-1 got published a news item through A-2 in Vaartha daily newspaper with the photo of the complainant alleging that in the name of social work, the complainant is selling minor children, converting ladies into prostitution and she is a lesbian, and further to that effect, pamphlets were also printed and distributed. On 24-04-2002, one more news item was also published in the same newspaper of A-2 stating that the news item published on 23-04-2002 was found to be correct and demanded enquiry against the complainant. The police took the complainant into custody and after due investigation, they found that the news item published in the newspaper is false. On account of the publication of news item in the newspaper of A-2, the complainant was defamed in her community and society. Therefore, she filed a complaint against the accused and basing on the same, the present crime is registered. The learned counsel for the second respondent is absent. The learned counsel for the petitioner submitted that the Managing Director of a newspaper is not concerned with the news item published in the newspaper. As rightly pointed out by the learned counsel for the petitioner, petitioner cannot be prosecuted since he is not in-charge of the news item published in the newspaper. Petitioner, being the Managing Director of the Newspaper concerned, is only responsible for the managerial affairs of the Company and he is not liable to be prosecuted for the news item published in concerned Newspaper. Hence, the proceedings against the petitioner are liable to be quashed. Accordingly, the Criminal Petition is allowed. The proceedings against the petitioner in C.C.No.262 of 2002 on the file of the Judicial First Class Magistrate, Mahaboobnagar, Mahaboobnagar District, are hereby quashed. _____________ RAJA ELANGO, J Date: 19-08-2010 YCR