BALRAJ KHANNA & ORS. vs MOTI RAM

The Supreme Court held that under Section 499 IPC, while it is preferable for a complainant to state the actual words used by the accused in a defamation case, it is not strictly necessary to reproduce them verbatim if the essence of the allegations is conveyed. The Court emphasized that the purpose of requiring the actual words is to assess whether they are defamatory, and a substantial reproduction of the imputed words suffices. The High Court's order for further inquiry was upheld, as the evidence implicated all members of the Standing Committee in the defamatory allegations, and the exceptions to Section 499 IPC did not protect the appellants.