- 1 - NC: 2025:KHC:7384 CRL.A No. 487 of 2012 IN THE HIGH COURT OF KARNATAKA AT BENGALURU DATED THIS THE 19TH DAY OF FEBRUARY, 2025 BEFORE THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE V SRISHANANDA CRIMINAL APPEAL NO. 487 OF 2012 BETWEEN: SRI. GANJAM SHIVU, S/O LATE SRINIVASAHIAH, AGED ABOUT 45 YEARS, R/A NIMISHAMBHA TEMPLE ROAD, GAJAM, SRIRANGAPATNA, MANDYA DISTRICT. …APPELLANT (BY SRI. V. LAKSHMIKANTH RAO, ADVOCATE) AND: STATE OF KARNATAKA BY LOKAYUKTA P.S., REPRESENTED BY STATE PUBLIC PROSECUTOR, HIGH COURT OF KARNATAKA, BANGALORE. (DELETED NAME OF THE SPP VIDE ORDER DATED 27.04.2012) …RESPONDENT (BY SRI. B.S. PRASAD, ADVOCATE) THIS CRL.A IS FILED U/S.374(2) OF CR.P.C PRAYING TO SET ASIDE THE ORDER DATED 29.03.2012 PASSED BY THE SPECIAL JUDGE, BANGALORE URBAN DISTRICT, BANGALORE IN SPL.C.C.NO.189/03-04 CONVICTING THE APPELLANT/ACCUSED FOR THE OFFENCE P/U/S.17(2) OF KARNATAKA LOKAYUKTA ACT. Digitally signed by MALATESH K C Location: HIGH COURT OF KARNATAKA - 2 - NC: 2025:KHC:7384 CRL.A No. 487 of 2012 THIS APPEAL, COMING ON FOR HEARING, THIS DAY, JUDGMENT WAS DELIVERED THEREIN AS UNDER: CORAM: HON'BLE MR JUSTICE V SRISHANANDA ORAL JUDGMENT Heard the learned counsel Sri. Lakshmikantha Rao appearing for the appellant and the learned standing counsel Sri. B.S. Prasad, appearing for Lokayukta. 2. This appeal is filed by the accused who suffered an order of conviction in Spl. C.C. No.189/2003 on the file of Special Judge, Bangalore Urban District, Bangalore City for the offence punishable under Section 17(2) of the Karnataka Lokayukta Act, 1984 and sentenced to undergo simple imprisonment for a period of six months and to pay a fine of Rs.5,000/- with default sentence of three months simple imprisonment. 3. Facts in brief which are utmost necessary for disposal of the present appeal are as under: 4. A complaint came to be lodged by the public prosecutor alleging that sanction order has been obtained - 3 - NC: 2025:KHC:7384 CRL.A No. 487 of 2012 under Section 17(3) of the Lokayukta Act to prosecute the accused before the competent Court for the offence punishable under Section 17(2) of the Karnataka Lokayukta Act by contending that Lokayukta is an Institution established under the statute ‘Karnataka Lokayukta Act, 1984’ for the purpose of improving the standards of public administration and to receive the complaints against the administrative actions which would improve faces of corruption, favouritism, official indiscipline in the administrative machinery. 5. Act also provided for appointment of Lokayukta, Upa-Lokayukta, to investigate and report on allegations and to enquire into the grievances relating to the conduct of public servants. 6. Further averments in the complaint reveals that to cause interruption and to insult the Institution Lokayukta/Upa-Lokayukta is punishable offence under Section 17(2) of the Karnataka Lokayukta Act. - 4 - NC: 2025:KHC:7384 CRL.A No. 487 of 2012 7. In relation to the functioning of Lokayukta, various articles are published under different captions in page Nos.6 and 7 in the newspaper belonging to the accused namely ‘Tippu Express’, a Kannada fortnightly newspaper dated 31.10.2003. Accused being the printer, publisher, editor and the owner of the newspaper ‘Tippu Express’, did not exercise required care and caution before publishing the articles in page Nos.6 and 7 of the said news paper dated 31.10.2003 and the contents of the article perse derogatory with an intention to cause insult and to bring disrepute to the Institution Lokayukta/Upa- Lokayukta. 8. The relevant portion of the news item is culled out hereunder for the ready reference: • ¯ÉÆÃPÁAiÀÄÄPÀÛgÀ ºÁ¢ RaðUÁV ¨sÀæµÁÖZÁgÀzÀ ºÀt §¼ÀPÉ: • C¢üPÁjUÀ¼À C©ü¥ÁæAiÀÄ PÉüÀĪÀ ªÀÄ£À¹ÜwAiÀÄÄ EgÀzÀ ¥ÀæZÁgÀ ¦æÃAiÀÄ ¯ÉÆÃPÁAiÀÄÄPÀÛ, • ¤µÀ× C¢üPÁjUÀ½UÀÆ ¨sÀAiÀÄzÀ ªÁvÀªÀgÀt ¤ªÀiÁðt, • ¤dªÁzÀ ¸ÀªÀĸÉåUÀ½UÉ ¨É£ÀÄߺÁQzÀ ¯ÉÆÃPÁAiÀÄÄPÀÛgÀÄ, • D¸ÀàvÉæ ªÉøÉÖÃeï ¸ÀÄnÖzÀÝPÉÌ OµÀ¢ü ¸ÀÄlÖ CgÉÆÃ¥À, • ‘¥ÉÆ°Ã¸ï £Á£ÀÄ §gÀÄwÛzÉÝãɒ, ¨sÀæóµÀÖ C¢üPÁjUÀ½UÉ ªÀÄÄ£ÉßZÀÑjPÉAiÀÄ PÀgÉUÀAmÉ, • SÁf £ÁåAiÀÄPÀÆÌ ªÀÄÄAzÁzÀ ¯ÉÆÃPÁAiÀÄÄPÀÛ, • ºÁ¸Àå¸ÀàzÀUÉÆAqÀ ¯ÉÆÃPÁAiÀÄÄPÀÛ £ÁåAiÀiÁ®AiÀÄ, ²¼ÀÄî PÉÃPÉUÀ½AzÀ vÀÄA©ºÉÆÃzÀ ¥Àj, - 5 - NC: 2025:KHC:7384 CRL.A No. 487 of 2012 • gÁdQÃAiÀÄ ¥ÀPÀëUÀ¼À UÀÄzÁÝlPÉÌ PÁgÀtªÁzÀ ¯ÉÆÃPÁAiÀÄÄPÀÛ, ¨sÀæµÁÖZÁgÀzÀ £ÉgÀ½£À°è ¯ÉÆÃPÁAiÀÄÄPÀÛ ¨sÀæµÁÖZÁgÀzÀ £ÉgÀ½£À°è ¯ÉÆÃPÁAiÀÄÄPÀÛ ¨sÀæµÁÖZÁgÀzÀ £ÉgÀ½£À°è ¯ÉÆÃPÁAiÀÄÄPÀÛ ¨sÀæµÁÖZÁgÀzÀ £ÉgÀ½£À°è ¯ÉÆÃPÁAiÀÄÄPÀÛ: ºËzÀÄ... 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J®Æè ®AZÀ vÀUÉÆAr®è. ºÁVzÀÝgÉ ¯ÉÆÃPÁAiÀÄÄPÀÛgÀ PÁAiÀÄð ªÉÊRÀj ¤ªÀÄUÉ vÀÈ¦Û vÀA¢zÉAiÉÄà JAzÀÄ ¥Àæ²ß¹zÀgÉ, MªÉÄäà ªÀiÁvÀæ zÁR¯É E®èzÀªÀjUÀÆ ¸Á® PÉÆr CAzÀzÀÄÝ ¨ÉøÀgÀªÁ¬ÄvÀÄ. ¯ÉÆÃPÁAiÀÄÄPÀÛgÉà ¤AiÀĪÀÄ ªÀÄÄjzÀÄ ¸Á® PÉÆqÀĪÀAvÉ MvÁÛAiÀĪÀiÁqÀ¨ÁgÀzÁVvÀÄÛ J£ÀÄßvÁÛgÉ. - 12 - NC: 2025:KHC:7384 CRL.A No. 487 of 2012 9. After the said complaint came to be received by the learned Special Judge, cognizance of the offence under Section 17(2) of the Karnataka Lokayukta Act was taken by the learned trial judge and charges were framed by securing the presence of the accused. Accused pleaded not guilty. Therefore the trial was held. 10. Registrar of Lokayukta by name Sri. D. Krishnapa was examined as PW1 and he placed on record 6 documents which were exhibited and marked as Exs.P1 to P6 comprising of ‘Tippu Expres’ main sheet, page Nos.6 and 7 of ‘Tippu Expres’ dated 31.10.2003, sanction order vide Ex.P3, letter addressed to the Director of Prosecution dated 19.12.2003, letter received from public prosecutor dated 30.12.2003 and the complaint dated 23.12.2003. 11. Detailed cross-examination of PW1 did not yield any positive material so as to hold that the publication of the article in page Nos.6 and 7 vide Ex.P2 in Ex.P1 newspaper dated 31.10.2003 was well within the powers of the accused as per the terms and conditions for - 13 - NC: 2025:KHC:7384 CRL.A No. 487 of 2012 issuance of license to publish the news in the said newspaper owned and edited by the accused. 12. Thereafter, the learned Special judge has recorded the accused statement as is contemplated under Section 313 of Code of Criminal Procedure. Accused denied the incriminatory materials found in the prosecution evidence but failed to offer any explanation whatsoever in writing as is contemplated under Section 313(3) of the Code of Criminal Procedure nor placed any defence evidence. 13. Thereafter, the learned Special Judge heard the arguments of the parties and by impugned judgment dated 29.03.2012 convicted the accused for the offence punishable under Section 17(2) of the Karnataka Lokayukta Act and sentenced him to undergo six months simple imprisonment and to pay a fine of Rs.5,000/- with a default sentence of three months. - 14 - NC: 2025:KHC:7384 CRL.A No. 487 of 2012 14. Being aggrieved by the same, the accused/appellant is before this Court by way of this appeal. 15. Learned counsel Sri. Lakshmikanth Rao for the appellant submits that immediately after the complaint came to be filed, publication of ‘Tippu Express’ fortnightly newspaper has been stopped by the appellant. 16. He would further contend that there was no intention in publishing the article to degrade or insult Lokayukta or bringing disrepute to the Lokayukta Institution and appellant has realized his mistakes. He would also contend that the appellant now indulged in agricultural activities and for the incident that occurred inadvertently in the month of October 2003. 17. He has expressed remorse. A such, if the appellant is now directed to undergo simple imprisonment as ordered by the learned Special Judge, his family would be put to great hardship and sought for taking lenient view by setting aside imprisonment. - 15 - NC: 2025:KHC:7384 CRL.A No. 487 of 2012 18. Per contra, the learned counsel representing the respondent-Lokayukta/Upa-Lokayukta, while supporting the impugned judgment contended that under Section 17(2) of the Karnataka Lokayukta Act, there is a minimum punishment prescribed and the learned Trial Judge has imposed the minimum permission of simple imprisonment of six months for the proved offence and thus sought for dismissal of the appeal. 19. He would further contend that there cannot be any leniency shown to the appellant inasmuch as the same would result in encouraging the similarly placed perpetrators of crime and would send a wrong message to the Society at large and sought for dismissal of the appeal in toto. 20. Having heard the parties, the following points that would arise for consideration are as under: (i) Whether the conviction for the offence under Section 17(2) of the Karnataka Lokayukta Act needs to be suspend? (ii) Whether the sentence needs modification? - 16 - NC: 2025:KHC:7384 CRL.A No. 487 of 2012 (iii) What Order? Regarding points No.1 and 2: 21. In the case on hand, admittedly, a news item as referred to supra has been published in Kannada fortnightly paper known as ‘Tippu Express’ which was printed, edited, published and owned by the accused. Necessarily, the contents of the articles are per se derogatory and would bring disrepute to the Lokayukta Institution from the perspective of the reader of a newspaper in general. 22. No explanation whatsoever is forthcoming from the appellant as to what made him to publish such a news item and what are the preliminary enquiries made by the appellant before publishing the said news item about the veracities of the information that has been included in the news item. 23. In a matter of this nature, if the publication is per se derogatory, it is for the accused to explain that he had definite information about the allegations that were - 17 - NC: 2025:KHC:7384 CRL.A No. 487 of 2012 made in the article or he had collected such necessary information and after thorough enquiry, he was satisfied about the veracity about the information received and then proceed to publish the article. 24. In other words, when derogatory item is published, burden of proving that it was not intended to insult the institution-Lokayukta or not to bring disrepute to the Lokayukta/Upa-Lokayukta in general would shift on to the appellant-accused. 25. Under such circumstances, the appellant is duty bond to place his version on record in writing as is contemplated under Section 313(4) of the Code of Criminal or by placing defence evidence. No such attempt has been made in the case on hand. 26. PW-1 being the Registrar of Lokayukta/ Upa- Lokayukta – Senior District Judge, did not nurture any previous enmity or animosity as against the appellant to foist a false case. A news item published as referred to supra would perse amount to bringing disrepute to the - 18 - NC: 2025:KHC:7384 CRL.A No. 487 of 2012 institution of law and insulting the Lokayukta/ Upa- Lokayukta. The caption itself is in the nature of bringing disrepute inasmuch as the caption of the article would read as “Lokayuktara Dombarata”. 27. Therefore, the learned Trial Judge took into consideration the letter and spirit as is found in Section 17(2) of the Karnataka Lokayukta Act and it is classic case where the offence as is contemplated under Section 17(2) of the Karnataka Lokayukta Act has been established before the Court of law by placing cogent material evidence on record. Therefore, the conviction of the appellant for the offence under Section 17(2) of the Karnataka Lokayukta Act needs no interference even after re-appreciation of the material on record by exercising the appellate powers vested in this Court. 28. Having said thus, taking note of the age of the appellant being 63 years as on today and an isolated incident has occurred way back in October 2003 and also taking note of the fact that publication of the said paper - 19 - NC: 2025:KHC:7384 CRL.A No. 487 of 2012 has been stopped by the appellant soon after the complaint came to be filed, by realising the mistakes committed by him in the process of publishing the news item only with an intention to gain popularity among the Society and to cut yellow journalism, though minimum punishment of six months is prescribed under Section 17(2) of the Karnataka Lokayukta Act, by exercising the power vested in this Court under proviso under Section 17 of the Act, ends of justice would be met by directing the appellant to undergo simple imprisonment of the day till the rising of the Court by enhancing the fine amount in a sum of Rs.75,000/- to be paid in two instalments would meet the ends of justice. 29. Further, if the appellant is directed to furnish written apology addressing the same to Lokayukta/ Upa- Lokayukta and publish the same in one issue of ‘Vijaya Vani’ Kannada daily newspaper on or before 20.03.2025 and furnish one original newspaper to the records of this Court. - 20 - NC: 2025:KHC:7384 CRL.A No. 487 of 2012 30. It is made clear that the conduct of the appellant in stopping publishing of the paper soon after the incident is taken note of by this Court by exercising the power under the proviso in reducing the punishment of simple imprisonment for the day as against the prescribed minimum punishment of six months. Accordingly, point No.1 is answered ‘in the affirmative’ and point No.2 is answered ‘partly in the affirmative’. Regarding Point No.3: 31. In view of the finding of this Court, on point Nos.1 and 2 as above, the following order is passed: ORDER i. Appeal is allowed in part. ii. While maintaining the conviction of the appellant for the offence under Section 17(2) of the Karnataka Lokayukta Act, the sentence is modified as under : a. Appellant shall undergo simple imprisonment for the day till rising of the Court by paying enhanced fine amount of *Rs.75,000/- *Corrected vide Court order dated 08.04.2025. - 21 - NC: 2025:KHC:7384 CRL.A No. 487 of 2012 in two instalments i.e., first instalment of Rs.40,000/- on or before 20.03.2025 and the second instalment of Rs.35,000/- on or before 20.04.2025. b. Failure to make the enhanced fine amount would automatically result in restoration of the sentence ordered by the learned Trial Judge in the impugned Judgement. Office is directed to return the Trial Court Records with copy of this Order for passing modified conviction. Sd/- (V SRISHANANDA) JUDGE SNC List No.: 1 Sl No.: 27 CT: BHK