Judgement of the Day-R. RAJAGOPAL V. STATE OF TAMIL NADU

R. RAJAGOPAL V. STATE OF TAMIL NADU

(AIR 264, 1994 SCC (6) 632)

FACTS

This case is related to right to freedom of press and expression.

In this case petitioner include the editor, printer, publisher of a Tamil Nadu magazine of

nakkheeran and the respondent who was the inspector general of prison and petitioner wanted

to publish an autobiography of a prisoner who convicted on 6 months of murder and sentenced

to death and petitioner brought a prison against the respondent because they prohibited the

petitioner.

In this case prison official then official then forced shanker to write to the magazine requesting

that Auto - Biography not to be published and petitioner alleged that such prohibition was

violating the right to freedom of expression.

JUDGEMENT

Court in passing it's ruling drew a distinction between right to privacy and press and the tort of

defamation.

In this case court explained that it was important to strike a balance between the freedom of

the press and the right to privacy found that the state and it's official do not have the right to

impose prior restraint on the publication of material that may be defame the state and court

said that prisoner can only sue the Petitioner for defamation if the word of the prisoner are

defamatory.