Nagpur, Nov 21: A bench of Mumbai High Court here has quashed criminal defamation proceedings against Shiv Sena leader Raj Thackeray, in an Amravati court. Justice Kishore Rohee of HC bench, allowing a criminal application filed by Raj Thackeray, Sena supremo Bal Thackeray's nephew, dismissed the defamation proceedings initiated against him at the behest of two office bearers of Samajwadi Party from Amravati. According to the complainants, Baburao Belsare and Ziya Ahmad Mohammad Javed of Samajwadi Party, Thackeray delivered an inflammatory speech at a public meeting held at Rajkamal Chowk in Amravati on October 12, 1998. The contents of his speech were published in a Hindi daily at Amravati. They contended that his speech was aimed at disturbing communal harmony and spoiling relations between two communities. Both filed a criminal complaint in the chief judicial magistrate's court. The CJM, while rejecting first three sections, took cognizance of offence under section 500 of IPC and accordingly issued process. Thackeray contended that no allegations were made out against him and challenged the locus standi of the complainants.

Only a person alleged to have been defamed or affected by the alleged defamatory statement enjoyed the right to initiate proceedings under relevant sections, his lawyer argued.


Agreeing with the arguments advanced by Thackeray's lawyer, the bench set aside the Amravati court proceedings saying none of the top leaders against whom he had spoken in his public address had chosen to file defamation proceedings.

Bureau Report