Defamation | A, a shopkeeper says to B who is his manager, sell nothing to Z unless he pays you ready money for I have no opinion of his honesty. Z prosecutes ‘A’ for defamation. Decide the case.

Question: A, a shopkeeper says to B who is his manager, sell nothing to Z unless he pays you ready money for I have no opinion of his honesty. Z prosecutes ‘A’ for defamation. Decide the case. [U.P.C.J. 2000]

Find the answer to the mains question only on Legal Bites. [A, a shopkeeper says to B who is his manager, sell nothing to Z unless he pays you ready money for I have no opinion of his honesty. Z prosecutes ‘A’ for defamation. Decide the case. [U.P.C.J. 2000]]

Answer

A cannot be prosecuted for defamation charges as alleged by Z in the present case.

There are ten exceptions to section 499 state the instances in which an imputation, prima facie defamatory, may be excused. They are occasions when a man is allowed to speak out or write matters, which would ordinarily be defamatory.

One of the exceptions to defamation is the Ninth Exception which states about Imputation made in good faith by a person for the protection of his or other’s interests. It says it is not defamation to make an imputation on the character of another, provided that the imputation be made in good faith for the protection of the interest of the person making it, or of any other person, or for the public good.

The present facts of the case are borrowed from Illustrations (a) appended to Exception 9 of section 499. In the case, A, a shopkeeper, says to B, who manages his business—’Sell nothing to Z unless he pays you ready money, for I have no opinion of his honesty. A is within the exception if he has made this imputation on Z in good faith for the protection of his own interests. Hence, A shall not be liable to have defamed Z, and thus entitled to protection under this exception.

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