Over the years courts around the world have developed case law that seeks to reduce defamation’s infringement on freedom of expression. Unlike the defamation law which seeks to limit harmful statements, freedom of expression encourages public discourse. While the debate over the defamation law continues there is a general move to protect a broader spectrum of reasoned criticism. Even where courts have found a person guilty of defamation it has recognized that imposition of sanctions can have a dangerous chilling effect on freedom of expression. In fact, international courts have developed new ways to protect freedom of expression in defamation cases. In defamation cases truth is a complete defence as the law does not permit a person to recover damages in respect of an injury to a character he does not possess.
Goa’s Advocate General Mr. Subodh Kantak filed a defamation case against me because he allegedly felt defamed by the various allegations I had made against him. It is an irony that the Advocate General instead of pursuing the case filed by him decided to exit the case when he realized he was getting further defamed on account of the documentary evidence with which I was confronting him during the cross examination. Anyone planning to file a defamation case would be well advised to seek Subodh Kantak’s opinion and guidance on his first hand experience before doing so. However it is questionable as to what legal advice Mr. Subodh Kantak would be in a position to offer either to the State or the pubic at large if he could not be in a position to tackle his own personal case. What began with a quarter page advertisement released in the local newspapers against me by Mr. Subodh Kantak ended up in a two year legal battle which has been a learning experience for me as it must have been for Mr. Subodh Kantak as well. If nothing else at least Mr. Subodh Kantak now knows that an Advocate General has a seat reserved for him in the Goa Legislative Assembly. Due to our legal battle we now have a 34 page landmark judgment passed by Justice N.A.Britto of the Bombay High Court at Goa in which the court has exhaustively outlined the parameters of cross examination in a defamation case which came to be upheld by the Supreme Court, by refusing to entertain the Special Leave Petition filed by Mr. Subodh Kantak. Few defamation cases land up in the High Court and the Supreme Court. But our legal battle did take a long journey from the Panaji Judicial Magistrate’s Court to the High Court and later to the Supreme Court in New Delhi with the matter sent back to the Panaji JMFC with directions to expedite the proceedings. Goa’s controversial Advocate General Subodh Kantak will go down in the history books for all the wrong reasons. As India’s highest paid Advocate General he is India's first Advocate General to challenge before the Supreme Court a High Court order passed against him. Subodh Kantak is India’s only Advocate General to file a defamation case against an Advocate and the country’s first Advocate General to have had to face High Court criminal proceedings. Subodh Kantak is also India’s only Advocate General who has been directed to pay costs for seeking to adjourn a case filed by him. Subodh Kantak is also the nation’s only Advocate General against whom contempt of Court proceedings are pending before the High Court. Now he has acquired the distinction of perhaps being the only Advocate General who was unable to pursue his own case. Subodh Kantak instead of upholding the dignity and decorum of the high constitutional post of Advocate General, has by his own misdeeds tarnished the image and sanctity of the post he was entrusted. An Advocate General by his unblemished character and impeccable integrity should be a role model to his colleagues and a source of encouragement for those in the noble legal profession for which high standards are required to be maintained. If Subodh Kantak ever seeks my advice, I would urge him to refund to the Goa Government the legal fees of Rs eight lakhs sixteen thousand paid to him for appearing before the High Court in the Saleli case bail applications. Subodh Kantak had appeared in the High Court on 27th January 2006 in the bail applications of 102 accused where the Advocate General was paid 102 times Rs 8000 i.e. Rs eight lakhs sixteen thousand for a single argument in that batch of 102 bail applications. Subodh Kantak has bent every rule possible to his benefit. He has packed the office of the Advocate General with his kith and kin. Unlike the earlier AG’s there is currently no person holding the post of Under Secretary/ Officer on Special Duty in the office of the Advocate General. For reasons well known to all, Subodh Kantak has managed to get his close friend Mr. Ramnath Pai, a clerk with the Corporation of City of Panaji (CCP) to be appointed as his Personal secretary on a gazetted officer’s pay scale whose amongst other odd jobs is to take Subodh Kantak’s pack of dogs for a walk. In the defamation case filed against me, Subodh Kantak had sought 15 crores which he had vowed to use for charitable causes like old age homes, orphanages and towards the welfare of animals. Subodh Kantak would now have to find alternate ways to meet these noble causes. In his petition, Mr. Subodh Kantak had complained that the allegations against him have been mentally agonizing, inconvenient and caused him a lot of indignation. Obviously, Subodh Kantak does not realize that his conduct and misdeeds as the Advocate General has put the entire legal system to shame. He has lost the respect of the legal fraternity and the burden he has put on Goa’s tax payers by bleeding the exchequer will be felt for years to come. With the defamation case now behind me, I look forward penning my memoirs which will definitely include a chapter on my encounter with Subodh Kantak. It will undoubtedly be a very long chapter of my being able to take on the might of the Advocate General of Goa with the Right to Information Act coming to my aid. I have never had anything personal against Subodh Kantak. Just as in a game of chess, we had to choose our moves in a legal battle that was both fierce and sometimes bitter. “Subodh” stands for sound advice and “Kantak” for obstruction. For Subodh Kantak every move seemed to have backfired but this is something he himself would have to reflect on. Maybe one day we should get down to play a real game of chess, my friend. Will you? No match fixing for sure! Aires Rodrigues T1 - B30, Ribandar Retreat Ribandar - Goa - 403006 Mobile: 9822684372
