Reliance is placed upon the decision in the case of Navin Parekh vs. Madhubala Shridhar Sharma & Ors. MANU/MH/0883/1992 : 1992 Mh.L.J. 1409, in the backdrop that the lawyer had forwarded certain letters on behalf of his client where it was alleged that he had acted in highly unprofessional and unethical manner and he was sought to be prosecuted for alleged defamation, since the words used in the letter were per se defamatory. It is in these facts, it was held that where a party on the basis of sufficient material arrives at a conclusion and states its case and the contemplated course of action in the legal correspondence, it would be wholly inappropriate to allege that an offence of defamation is committed. Justice M.F.Saldanha held that, "in the case of an Advocate where express malice is absent, a Court having due regard to public policy would be extremely cautious of depriving him of the protection of Exception 9 to Section 499 Indian Penal Code. The Trial Magistrates would be well advised to be doubly cautious while entertaining complaints against legal practitioners because the law does confer on them certain privileges which are necessary for the conduct of their professional duties. It is, therefore, only in that class of cases where those privileges have been virtually abused alone, the process should be issued. The obligation of making out a case that the accused, who is an advocate had not acted in good faith and that he had acted maliciously is, therefore, a condition precedent and in absence of this necessary ingredient, the prosecution cannot be sustained." {Para 21}
24. In any case, since we find that there was no intention on part of the Petitioner to insult her modesty, as he was only discharging his duty of defending his clients in the remand proceedings and even if he had cast aspersions upon her character, since they were based on the instructions received from his clients, which has reference in the complaint made on-line and its receipt in the police station is not denied, we deem it appropriate to extend the privilege of an Advocate to the present Petitioner and moreso, what we find is, the statement is not unconnected to the case, as it is the case of his client that by using the pressure tactics, they were being coerced to pay the money.
IN THE HIGH COURT OF BOMBAY
Criminal Writ Petition No. 3858 of 2024
Decided On: 09.12.2024
Ratnadeep Ram Patil Vs. The State of Maharashtra and Ors.
Hon'ble Judges/Coram:
Bharati H. Dangre and Manjusha Ajay Deshpande, JJ.
Author: Bharati H. Dangre, J.
Citation: 2024:BHC-AS:48668-DB, MANU/MH/7471/2024.
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