LAW OF TORTS

UG II SEMESTER

CRE SCHEDULE FOR 3rd APRIL, 2018

DATE OF RELEASE OF CRE PROBLEM : 27TH MARCH, 2018

CRE NO. 8

Martin John is a 51 year old successful businessman based in Jodhpur. He has two separate shops of
jewellery, one in Sardarpura and the other at Paota. His shop is named Regal Jewellers. The first
shop was opened at Sardarpura in 1987 and the second in 1989 at Paota. Martin is a protestant and
a very devout Christian, so much so that he is known in his social circle as Father Martin. Martin’s
wife Sunita William runs a Boutique by the name of Silhouette in Sardarpura from 1994. Martin and
Sunita married in the year 1988. Their son Rahul William (26 years old) is an engineer working with a
company in Jodhpur. Martin’s house is a 2-storey building in Shastri Nagar (House Number B22),
which was built in 1992.

Martin John is a 56 year old catholic priest who has been transferred from the Mumbai Diocese to
the Northern Diocese at Jodhpur. Martin has been a priest for 35 years with the Catholic Church
mostly being transferred across churches in Southern India. He is married to Rose Mathew, a home-
maker. The couple have a son named Sunil John who is a doctor based in Dubai. At Jodhpur, Martin
is staying with his wife at a house provided by the Church at Shastri Nagar (House Number D45).

On 3rd of March 2017, on the information of a neighbour, Mr Martin John the priest was caught in a
compromising position with a minor girl child by the police and several obscene pictures of minor
children were recovered from his hard-drive.

News Today is an English newspaper daily sold across Rajasthan. They have two main printing
houses, one in Jaipur and the other in Jodhpur. Their readership in Jodhpur is at par with the other
leading English newspapers. On the 4 th of March 2017, News Today printed a news article written by
Suharam Nath published on the front page in the left corner as follows:

Father Martin’s Unholy Act

Suharam Nath
Jodhpur (4 March 2017) : Father Martin John residing in Shastri Nagar under a house
provided by the Church was found in a compromising position with a minor girl and several
obscene material was recovered from his possession. On the information of an alert
neighbour, this matter was brought to the attention of the police who immediately reached
Martin’s house and took him in custody. The girl was sent for medical examination. There
have been several reported incidents of assault against minors by priests in Rajasthan, but
this is a first for Jodhpur. Neighbours say they did not notice anything strange about the
Father and that he was always very jovial and friendly. The Church has not responded to
questions posed by our reporter. Father Martin has a wife and a son.
Martin John, the jeweller read this piece of news on 4 th March 2017, as did many of his friends and
customers. His wife received several calls that day from people concerned for Martin. There were
several threatening calls also made by persons asking the family to vacate their house and relocate.
Martin himself was tired of explaining to people that it was not him News Today had mentioned. The
next day Martin called the office of News Today at Jodhpur and conveyed the issue. An associate
editor by the name of Arjun Sharma with the paper told Martin that the newspaper had intended
someone else entirely and it was very unfortunate that people were confused. No correction
statement or apology was published by News Today concerning the story. Martin also noticed that
over the next few days the number of customers at his shops has lessened and two employees had
also not shown up for work. In a letter e-mailed to him by an employee, it was stated that he was
disgraced by Martin’s act. Sunita’s boutique though was running smoothly without any noticeable
change in customers. Rahul has also had to explain to several of his friends and colleagues that the
person mentioned in the newspaper was not his father.

Martin John, the jeweller has brought a suit of defamation against News Today.

Argue on behalf of the Plaintiff and the Defendant, respectively.