Malicious Prosecution

Meaning
• Judicial proceeding instituted by one person
against another, from wrongful or improper
motive, without any reasonable and probable
cause to justify it.
• Instituting unsuccessful criminal proceedings
maliciously and without any reasonable and
probable cause to justify it.
ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS OF MALICIOUS
PROSECUTION
• Prosecution by the defendant.
• Absence of reasonable and probable cause.
• Defendant acted maliciously.
• Termination of proceedings in the favour of
the plaintiff.
• Plaintiff suffered damage as a result of the
prosecution.
 1. Prosecution by the defendant

• Prosecution
Nagendra Nath Ray v. Basanta Das Bairagya
• Prosecution should be instituted by the
defendant
Dattatraya pandurang Datar v. Hari Keshav
 2. Absence of reasonable and
probable cause
• An honest belief in the guilt of the accused
upon a full conviction, founded upon
reasonable grounds, assuming to be true
• Case: Abrath v. North Eastern Railway Co.
 3.Malice

• Improper and wrongful motive or intention

• To harass the plaintiff
• Case: Kamata Prasad Gupta v. National
Buildings Construction Corp. Ltd.
 4.Termination of the prosecution in
the plaintiff's favour
• If plaintiff has been convicted he has no right
to sue
• Only remedy is to appeal
• If the appeal results in his favour, he can then
sue for malicious prosecution
• Case: Renolds v. kennedy
 5. Damage
• Necessary to show some special damage
• Plaintiff can claim damages for
– Damage to the plaintiff’s reputation
– Damage to plaintiff’s person
– Damage to plaintiff’s property
 Defences
• Acted according to statutory authority
• Given information to police authority in good
faith
• Prosecution was of a civil nature
• No damage
• No malice
• http://www.legalserviceindia.com/article/l337
-Malicious-Prosecution-under-Law-of-
Tort.html