Mere Utterances Of Unpleasant Words Without Intention To Insult Woman’s Modesty Not Offence U/S 509 IPC: Kerala HC Quashes Case Against Film Director Sreekumar Menon

The Kerala High Court has quashed a criminal case against Film Director Sreekumar Menon, saying that mere utterances of unpleasant or abusive words without an intention to insult the modesty of woman is not an offence under Section 509 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

The Court was deciding a criminal miscellaneous case filed by Menon against the proceedings arising from a case registered by Manju Warrier, an actress.

A Single Bench of Justice S. Manu observed, “The offence under the provision is attracted if the ingredients, such as utterance of any word, making of any sound or gesture, exhibition of any object with the intention to insult the modesty of a woman or with intention to intrude upon the privacy of such a woman, are satisfied. Mere utterances of unpleasant or abusive words without an intention either to insult the modesty of the women or to intrude upon the privacy of such women would not attract the offence under Section 509 of the IPC.”

Advocate Vinay V. appeared for the petitioner while Public Prosecutor (PP) Nima Jacob appeared for the respondents.

Brief Facts -

The case against Menon/petitioner was registered based on a petition submitted by the respondent to the State Police Chief in 2019. The respondent was an actress, active in the movie filed for more than two decades. A charitable organization named “Manju Warrier Foundation,” formed by her along with her parents, had been functioning at the time of submitting the petition. She engaged ‘PUSH’, a company of the petitioner for coordinating the activities of her foundation. She also acted in some advertorials in association with ‘PUSH’. An agreement was executed with ‘PUSH’ in 2013 and it was terminated in 2017 on account of differences developed among her and the petitioner.

The respondent acted in a movie, ‘Odiyan’, directed by the petitioner. It was alleged that during the shooting and later at the time of releasing and promotion, the petitioner engaged in defaming her. In the shooting site, the petitioner used to allegedly talk to her in an indecent manner and mentally harassed her. According to the respondent, the petitioner was making efforts to ruin her goodwill and to harass her associates. She therefore requested to ensure appropriate actions to ensure return of the signed papers in the possession of the petitioner and to prevent him from making comments, tending to cause disrepute to her and to outrage her modesty.

The High Court in view of the facts and circumstances of the case, said, “The word used may be defamatory and it might have hurt the de facto complainant; however, that is not sufficient to constitute the offence under Section 294(b). Hence, the offence under Section 294(b) also would not lie against the petitioner.”

The Court further reiterated that mere insult or false allegation would not attract a prosecution under Section 509 of IPC. It added that, when all other offences alleged in the final report are found unsustainable, prosecution solely for the offence under Section 120(o) of the Kerala Police Act would not survive as permission required under law was not available.

Accordingly, the High Court allowed the petition and quashed the proceedings against the petitioner.

Cause Title- Sreekumar Menon v. State of Kerala & Anr. (Neutral Citation: 2024:KER:81806)

Appearance:

Petitioner: Advocates V. Vinay, S. Rajeev, K.K. Dheerendrakrishnan, D. Feroze, and Anand Kalyanakrishnan.

Respondents: PP Nima Jacob

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