Kerala High Court Rules Out Defamation Cases for Remarks on Banned Organizations like PFI
The Kerala High Court has recently held that comments on banned organizations, such as the Popular Front of India (PFI), do not constitute grounds for defamation. Justice P.V. Kunhikrishnan noted that statements regarding the PFI cannot be deemed defamatory, given that the organization was designated as an "unlawful association" by the Central Government in September 2022.
12/2/20241 min read
Kerala High Court Observations on Defamation Case Involving Banned Organization*
The Kerala High Court considered a petition filed by Bharat Prakashan (Delhi) Ltd., a media organization, along with five of its officials, seeking the quashing of a defamation case initiated by CP Mohammed Basheer, the General Secretary of the banned Popular Front of India (PFI).
The defamation allegations arose from an article published in Organiser, which claimed that the PFI was a rebranded version of the proscribed Students' Islamic Movement of India (SIMI). The article also alleged PFI’s involvement in terrorist recruitment activities in Jammu and Kashmir, the Bangalore serial bomb blasts, and the attack on Professor TJ Joseph.
Kerala High Court Dismisses Defamation Case Filed by PFI General Secretary
The Kerala High Court, while reiterating that defamation claims cannot be made against a banned organization, reviewed the content of the article in question.
Upon examination, the Court found that the allegations in the article merely reflected information already available in the public domain at the time of its publication.
In light of these findings, the Court allowed the petition, thereby quashing the defamation case.
"In such circumstances, a complaint of defamation against the petitioners cannot be sustained by a banned organization," the Court concluded.