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Shahed Kamal v. M/s. A. Surti Developers Pvt. Ltd.

Criminal Appeal · 2025 INSC 502Decided 17 Apr 2025
Crl.A. No.-002033-002033 - 2025
Justice K.V. Viswanathan · Justice N. Kotiswar Singh

Background

Homebuyers in a Mumbai residential building, frustrated that the builder had not formed their housing society, shared accounts, or fixed defects like broken podiums and leaking pipes after 18 months, put up a public banner listing these grievances in plain language. The builder responded with a criminal defamation complaint, and a magistrate issued summons against the homebuyers; the Bombay High Court declined to quash the proceedings.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court examined the banner's actual wording and found it contained no abusive, false, or intemperate language. It simply listed factual grievances (broken podium, poor lift maintenance, ignored complaints) and ended with "We protest for our rights." The Court held this fell squarely within the Ninth Exception to Section 499 IPC, which protects good-faith statements made to protect one's own or others' legitimate interests, and was also protected as peaceful protest under Articles 19(1)(a)-(c) of the Constitution. It quashed the criminal complaint and the summoning order, holding that letting the prosecution continue would be an abuse of the legal process.

Lesson Learnt

Homebuyers and consumers can publicly and factually air grievances against a builder or service provider (through banners, notices, or protests) without risking a criminal defamation conviction, so long as the language used is measured, truthful, and not abusive.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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