Case Summary
| Citation | M.C. Verghese v. T.J. Poonan (1969) 1 SCC 37 |
| Keywords | sec 122 IEA, communication during marriage |
| Facts | Rathi daughter of M.C. Verghese, was married to T.J. Ponnan. Relation between wife and husband was not good. Wife wanted to take divorce on the ground of impotency of her husband. Ponnan wrote letters from Bombay to Rathi who was then residing with her parents at Trivandrum, Kerala which it was claimed contained defamatory imputations concerning Verghese. She handed over letters to her father. Verghese then filed a complaint in the Court of the District Magistrate, Trivandrum, against Ponnan charging him with offence of defamation. Ponnan submitted an application raising two preliminary contentions: (1) that the letters which formed the sole basis of the complaint were inadmissible in evidence as they were barred by law or expressly prohibited by law from disclosure; and (2) that uttering of a libel by a husband to his wife was not “publication” under the law of India and hence cannot support a charge for defamation, and prayed for an order of discharge. District Magistrate held that a communication by a husband to his wife or by a wife to her husband of a matter defamatory to another person does not amount in law as publication, since the husband and wife are one in the eye of the law. High Court upheld the decision of district magistrate. |
| Issues | Whether letters can be proved against husband? Whether subsequent declaration of nullity of marriage will remove the bar against disclosure by wife? |
| Contentions | |
| Law Points | Unless there is publication, there will be no offence of defamation committed under Section 499 of the Indian Penal Code. The rule that husband and wife are one in the eye of law has not been adopted in its full force under our system of law and certainly not in our criminal jurisprudence. In Queen Empress v. Butch, it was held that there is no presumption of law that the wife and husband constitute one person in India for the purpose of the criminal law. No person who is or has been married, shall be compelled to disclose any communication made to him during marriage by any person to whom he is or has been married; Nor shall he be permitted to disclose any such communication, unless the person who made it, or his representative in interest, consents, except in suits between married persons, or proceedings in which one married person is prosecuted for any crime committed against the other. If Rathi appears in the witness box to give evidence about the communications made to her husband, prima facie the communications may not be permitted to be deposed to or disclosed unless Ponnan consents. That does not, however, mean that no other evidence which is not barred under s. 122 of the Evidence Act or other provisions of the Act can be given. When the letters were written by Ponnan to Rathi, they were husband and wife. The bar to the admissibility in evidence of communications made during marriage attaches at the time when the communication is made, and its admissibility will be adjudged in the light of the status at the date and not the status at the date when evidence is sought to be given in court. If the complainant seeks to support his case only upon the evidence of the wife of the accused, he may be met with the bar of Section 122 of the Indian Evidence Act. |
| Judgement | The letters were in appellant’s possession and were available for being tendered in evidence, and he could prove the letters in any other manner. Therefore, the accused (first respondent) should not have been discharged. |
| Ratio Decidendi & Case Authority |
Full Case Details
J.C. SHAH, J. – Rathi, daughter of M. C. Verghese, was married to T. J. Poonan. On July
18, 1964, July 25, 1964 and July 30, 1964, Poonan wrote from Bombay letters to Rathi who
was then residing with her parents at Trivandrum which it is claimed contained defamatory
imputations concerning Verghese. Verghese then filed a complaint in the Court of the District
Magistrate, Trivandrum, against Poonan charging him with offence of defamation. Poonan
submitted an application raising two preliminary contentions—(1) that the letters which
formed the sole basis of the complaint were inadmissible in evidence as they were barred by
law or expressly prohibited by law from disclosure; and (2) that uttering of a libel by a
husband to his wife was not “publication” under the law of India and hence cannot support a
charge for defamation, and prayed for an order of discharge, and applied that he may be
discharged.
2. The District Magistrate held that a communication by a husband to his wife or by a
wife to her husband of a matter defamatory of another person does not amount in law to
publication, since the husband and wife are one in the eye of the law. In so holding, he relied
upon the judgment in Wennhak v. Morgan and Wife [(1888) 20 QBD 635] He also held that
the communication was privileged, and no evidence could be given in court in relation to that
communication. He accordingly ordered that Poonan be discharged under Section 253(2)
Code of Criminal Procedure.
3. In a revision application filed by Verghese before the Court of Session, the order was
set aside and further enquiry into the complaint was directed. In the view of the learned
Sessions Judge the doctrine of the common law of England that a communication by one
spouse to another of a matter defamatory of another person does not amount to publication
has no application in India, and Section 122 of the Indian Evidence Act does not prohibit
proof in the Court by the complaint of the letters written by Poonan to his wife.
4. The case was then carried to the High Court of Kerala in revision. The High Court set
aside the order of the Court of Session and restored the order of the District Magistrate. The
High Court held that from the averments made in paragraphs 9 to 11 of the complaint it was
clear that the writing of defamatory matter by Poonan to his wife Rathi was not in law
publication, and that “if the letters written by Poonan to his wife cannot be proved in court
either by herself directly or through her father, in whose hands she had voluntarily placed
them, the imputations therein fell outside the court’s cognizance and no charge under Section
500, Indian Penal Code could be deemed to be made out”. Against the order passed by the
High Court discharging Poonan, this appeal is preferred with certificate granted by the High
Court.
5. It was assumed throughout these proceedings that the letters are defamatory of the
complainant. Under the Indian Penal Code in order that an offence of defamation may be
committed there must be making or publication of any imputation concerning any person by
words either spoken or intended to be read, or by signs or by visible representations, intending
to harm, or knowing or having reason to believe that such imputation will, harm, the
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reputation of such person. To constitute the offence of defamation there must therefore be
making or publication of an imputation concerning any person and the making or publication
must be with intent to harm, or knowing or having reason to believe that such imputation will
harm, the reputation of such person. Unless there is publication there can be no offence of
defamation committed.
6. In England the rule appears to be well settled that except in certain well defined
matters, the husband and wife are regarded as one and in an action for libel disclosure by the
husband of the libel to his wife is not publication. In Wennhak case Manistry, J., observed:
(T)he maxim and principle acted on for centuries is still in existence, viz., that as
regards this case, husband and wife are in point of that as law one person.”
The learned Judge examined the foundation of the rule and stated that it was, after all, a
question of public policy or, social policy.
7. But the rule that husband and wife are one in the eye of law has not been adopted in its
full force under our system of law and certainly not in our criminal jurisprudence.
8. In Queen Express v. Butchi [ILR 17 Mad 40] it was held that there is no presumption
of law that the wife and husband constitute one person in India for the purpose of the criminal
law. If the wife, removing the husband’s property from his house, does so with dishonest
intention, she is guilty of theft.
9. In Abdul Khadar v. Taib Begum [AIR 1957 Mad 339], the Madras High Court again
held that there is no presumption of law in India that a wife and husband constitute one person
for the purpose of criminal law, and therefore the English common law doctrine of absolute
privilege cannot prevail in India:
10. It must be remembered that the Indian Penal Code exhaustively codifies the law
relating to offences with which it deals and the rules of the common law cannot be resorted to
for inventing exemptions which are not expressly enacted.
11. In Tiruvengadda Mudali v. Tripurasundari Ammal [ILR 49 Mad 728], a Full Bench
of the Madras High Court observed that the exceptions to Section 499, I.P.C., must be
regarded as exhaustive .as to the cases which they purport to cover and recourse can be had to
the English common law to add new grounds of exception to those contained in the statute. A
person making libellous statements in his complaint filed in Court is not absolutely protected
in a criminal proceeding for defamation, for under the Eighth Exception and the illustration to
Section 499 the statements are privileged only when they are made in good faith. There is
therefore authority for the proposition that in determining the criminality of an act under the
Indian Penal Code the Courts will not extend the scope of special exceptions by resorting to
the rule peculiar to English common law that the husband and wife are regarded as one.
12. But we do not, deem it necessary to record any final opinion on this question,
because, in our judgment, this enquiry has to be made when the complaint is tried before the
Magistrate.
13. Verghese has complained that he was defamed by the three letters which Poonan
wrote to Rathi. Poonan, however, says that the letters addressed by him to his wife are not
except with his consent – admissible in evidence by virtue of Section 122 of the Indian
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Evidence Act, and since the only publication pleaded is publication to his wife, and she is
prohibited by law from disclosing those letters, no offence of defamation could be made out.
So stated, the proposition is, in our judgment, not sustainable.
The section consists of two branches – (1) that a married person shall not be compelled to
disclose any communication made to him during marriage by his spouse; and (2) that the
married person shall not except in two special classes of proceedings be permitted to disclose
by giving evidence in Court the communication, unless the person who made it, or his
representative in interest, consents thereto.
14. A prima facie case was set up in the complaint by Verghese. That complaint has not
been tried and we do not see how, without recording any evidence, the learned District
Magistrate could pass any order discharging Poonan. Section 122 of the Evidence Act only
prevents disclosure in evidence in court of the communication made by the husband to the
wife. If Rathi appears in the witness box to giving evidence about the communications made
to her husband, prima facie the communications may not be permitted to be deposed to or
disclosed unless Poonan consents. That does not, however, mean that no other evidence
which is not barred under Section 122 of the Evidence Act or other provisions of the Act can
be given.
15.In a recent judgment of the House of Lords Rumping v. Director of Public
Prosecutions [(1962) 3 All ER 256]. Rumping the mate of a Dutch ship was tried for murder
committed on board the ship. Part of the evidence for the prosecution admitted at the trial
consisted of a letter that Rumping had written to his wife in Holland which amounted to a
confession. Rumping had written the letter on the day of the killing, and had handed the letter
in a closed envelope to a member of the crew requesting him to post it as soon as the ship
arrived at the port outside England. After the appellant was arrested, the member of the crew
handed the envelope to the. captain of the ship who handed it over to the police. The member
of the crew, the captain and the translator of the letter gave evidence at the trial, but the wife
was not called as witness. It was held that the letter was admissible in evidence. Lord Reid,
Lord Morris of Borth-Y-Gest, Lord Hodson and Lord Pearce were of the view that at common
law there had never been a separate principle or rule that communications between a husband
and wife during marriage were inadmissible in evidence on the ground of public policy.
Accordingly except where the spouse to whom the communication is made is a witness and
claims privilege from disclosure under the Criminal Evidence Act, 1898 (of which the terms
are similar to Section 122 of the Indian Evidence Act though not identical), evidence as to
communications between husband and wife during marriage is admissible in criminal
proceedings.
16. The question whether the complainant in this case is an agent of the wife because he
has received the letters from the wife and may be permitted to give evidence is a matter on
which no opinion at this stage can be expressed. The complainant claims that he has been
defamed by the writing of the letters. The letters are in his possession and are available for
being tendered in evidence. We see no reason why inquiry into that complaint should, on the
preliminary contentions raised, be prohibited. If the complainant seeks to support his case
only upon the evidence of the wife of the accused., he may be met with the bar of Section 122
of the Indian Evidence Act. Whether he will be able to prove the letters in any other manner is
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a matter which must be left to be determined at the trial and cannot be made the subjectmatter of an enquiry at this stage.
17. One more question which was raised by counsel for the appellant may be briefly
referred to. It was urged that since the matter reached this Court, Rathi has obtained a decree
for nullity of marriage against Poonan on the ground of his impotency, and whatever bar
existed during the subsistence of the marriage cannot now operate to render Rathi an
incompetent witness. But the argument is plainly contrary to the terms of Section 122. If the
marriage was subsisting at the time when the communications were made, the bar prescribed
by Section 122 will operate. In Moss v. Moss [(1963) 2 QBD 829], it was held that in
criminal cases, subject to certain common law and statutory exceptions, a spouse is
incompetent to give evidence against the other, and that incompetence continues after a
decree absolute for divorce or a decree of nullity (where the marriage was annulled was
merely voidable) in respect of matters arising during overtime.
Counsel for the appellant however urged that the rule enunciated in Moss case has no
application in India, because under Sections 18 and 19 of the Divorce Act no distinction is
made between marriage void and voidable. By Section 18 a husband or wife may present a
petition for nullity of marriage to the appropriate Court and the Court has under Section 19
power to make the decree on the following grounds:
“(1) that the respondent was important at the time of the marriage and at the time
of the institution of the suit;
(2) that the parties are within the prohibited degrees of consanguinity (whether
natural or legal) or affinity;
(3) that either party was a lunatic or idiot at the time of the marriage;
(4) that the former husband or wife of either party was living at the time of the
marriage, and the marriage with such former husband or wife was then in force.
Nothing in this section shall effect the jurisdiction of the High Court to make
decrees of nullity of marriage on the ground that the consent of either party was
obtained by force or fraud.”
Marriage with the respondent who was impotent at the time of the marriage or at the time
of the institution of the suit is not ab initio void: it is voidable. As stated in Latey on Divorce,
14th Edn., at p. 194, Article 353:
“Where impotence is proved the ceremony of marriage is void only on the decree
absolute of nullity, but then it is void ab initio ‘to all intents and purposes’. Such a
marriage is valid for all purposes, unless a decree of nullity is pronounced during the
life-time of the parties.”
When the letters were written by Poonan to Rathi, they were husband and wife. The bar to
the admissibility in evidence of communications made during marriage attaches at the time
when the communication is made, and its admissibility will be adjudged in the light of the
status at that date and not the status at the date when evidence is sought to be given in Court.
19. We are, therefore, of the view that the appeal must be allowed and the order passed by
the High Court set aside. The proceedings will be remanded for trial to the District Magistrate
according to law.
