In
a rare judicial verdict, a hallmark of pride for any public servant, the Madras
High Court has lauded Mr. S.R.Jangid,IPS., for his integrity.
Mr.Jangid
filed a suit for claiming damages from a yellow magazine called Netrikann that had published defamatory articles against
Mr Jangid. Apart from publishing the articles, the authorTr. Nagaimugan, had
sent petitions and letters to various authorities under the garb of “Thani Tamizhar Sena”, which led to unnecessary
enquiries by the Authorities.A lawful
action taken against the land grabbers was portrayed as a Real Estate work to
pressurise the officer to take action against the party favoured by him. As it
was a case of cheating and land grabbing, the action of Mr.Jangid was upheld by
the court. Similarly, the findings of the enquiries conducted
by various Agencies also
revealed that such allegations
werefalse and defamatory. Following which, Mr.Jangid filed a suit in the Madras
High Court for claiming damages for Rs. 10 lakh. The Madras High Court after weighing
up the evidence adduced,
held that the claim made by Mr
Jangid was justifiable as the intention of the publications were aimed only at
defaming him on specious grounds. The observations made in the Judgment delivered
in C.No.1089/2007 dated 8.2.2010
are reproduced below-
“This court
had already found that there was no good intention nor good faith in publishing
the said letter of one Nagaimugan but it was published only with the intention
to blackmail the plaintiff to withdraw the case pending against him in
Pallikaranai Police station. Therefore, the defendant who has published false
information against the plaintiff should have been injuncted from doing so in
future. The plaintiff (S R Jangid IPS) being an
honest and efficient police officer who is concerning the welfare of the
society with impartial visionshould not be disturbed by similar
defamatory articles published by the defendant and if the defendant is not
injuncted by passing an order, it would certainly give mental torture or mental
agony to the plaintiff which may deviate the plaintiff from doing service to
the society, eventhough such defamatory and libellous publication are false in
nature and they may also cause damage to the good image of the plaintiff.
Therefore, the balance of convenience is also found in favour of the plaintiff.
Accordingly, this court is inclined to grant permanent injunction against the defendant
as prayed for in the suit.For the foregoing discussions, I am of the considered
view that the plaintiff (S R Jangid IPS) is entitled for the damages of
Rs.10,00,000/- (Rupees Ten Lakhs) as claimed by him against the defendant.
Similarly he is also entitled for permanent injunction against the defendant as
prayed for.
In fine,
the suit is decreed as prayed for with costs.”
This is one of a few judgments
whereby the Honorable High Court, apart from awarding damages to a public
servant gave a clean chit to Mr.S.R.Jangid IPS. This is nothing but a seal of approval
for his credibility and integrity.
