New Delhi, April 17 -- The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that peaceful protests by homebuyers over grievances against developers do not amount to defamation, while setting aside criminal proceedings initiated against a group of residents who had displayed banners critical of a builder.
A bench comprising Justices K V Viswanathan and N Kotiswar Singh held that consumers are entitled to express their dissatisfaction in a lawful and non-abusive manner. "A right to protest peacefully without falling foul of the law is a corresponding right, which the consumers ought to possess just as the seller enjoys his right to commercial speech," the court stated.
The judgment came in response to a criminal defamation case lodged against several homebuyers by a developer who claimed the banners displayed by them contained false and defamatory content. The court noted that the banners, which were erected in protest, did not contain abusive or offensive language.
"We find that the manner of the protest resorted to by the appellants was peaceful and orderly and without in any manner using offensive or abusive language," the bench said. It further observed that the homebuyers had not crossed any legal boundaries.
The court scrutinised the language used in the banners and found it to be measured and without harsh allegations. "There is no reference to any expression like 'fraud, cheating, misappropriation', etc. In mild and temperate language, certain issues, which the appellants perceived as their grievances, have been aired," the order read.
The bench highlighted that in a commercial relationship such as that between a buyer and builder, some leeway must be given in how concerns are communicated, provided they are raised in good faith. "The banner sets out that one of the issues was 'ignoring grievances', implying that there have been running issues between the two," the court said.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.