The Independent Newspapers Ltd. v. Devadasa – sllr 1983 volume 2 page 505

In the case between Devadasa (Vice-President of the Ceylon Railway Daily Paid Workers’ Benevolent Association) and Independent Newspapers Ltd. (proprietor of the Sinhalese newspaper “Davasa”), the court addressed the issue of whether publication of an article alleging fraud and improprieties among association office-bearers constituted actionable defamation and whether the defence of qualified privilege protected the defendant. It was held that the article, when read in its entirety, was defamatory under both its ordinary and extended meaning, and the defence of qualified privilege did not apply as there was no legal, moral, or social duty to communicate such information to the general public. The court reaffirmed the principle that publication to the world at large, absent a legitimate in