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that Auto - Biography not to be published and petitioner alleged that such prohibition was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