If home buyers peacefully protest against builders, there will be no slander, SC holds

The Supreme Court ruled that home buyers have the right to peacefully protest against builders. File | Image Source: Shashi Shekhar Kashyap

The Supreme Court ruled on Thursday (April 17, 2025) that home buyers have the right to peacefully protest the builder’s complaints, which does not mean defamation.

Justices KV Viswanathan and N. Kotiswar Singh said any attempt to portray it as a criminal offense, without the necessary components, is a clear abuse of the process and should be “blocked with buds.”

The bench said: “The right to protest that is not illegal is a corresponding right, and consumers should have the right to have when the seller enjoys their right to speak on the business.”

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This observation was when the judge withdraws criminal libel cases against home buyers because they erected banners that were not satisfied with the developer’s services.

“We found that the Appellant’s way of protesting appealing to the Appellant was peaceful, orderly, and there was no way of using offensive or abusive language. It cannot be said that the Appellant has crossed. Lakshman Rekha and into the area with problems,” the bench said.

The Supreme Court observed “no foul” or unpopular language used by home buyers against developers.

It states: “No mention of any expression, such as ‘fraud, cheating, misappropriation’, etc. In mild and mild language, the appellant believes that it is their dissatisfaction…”

In business relationships like builders and home buyers, certain allowances for the use of wording in communication should be provided as long as the deployment of questionable wording is based on honest beliefs.

The Supreme Court observed language as a tool to convey ideas and said: “If the appellant goes beyond their privilege to establish banners? We don’t think so. As earlier, the banners describe only the dissatisfaction of respondents who think they have business relationships with them.”

The bench added: “One of the issues that the banner stipulates is ‘ignoring the grievance, which means there is a running problem between the two, which is bound to happen in the builder-builder relationship.”

The Supreme Court said carefully choosing these words, consciously avoiding excessive, rude or abusive language and peaceful ways of protesting is the view of erecting banners to protect the legitimate interests of homeowners.

“Their case falls entirely under the sweep, scope and scope of Article 499. Their peaceful protests are protected by Article 19(1)(a)(a)(b) and (c) of the Indian Constitution.

In the Supreme Court, home buyers challenged the defamation case filed by builders.

The defamation case was filed against home buyers, a banner targeting the builder’s “false and defamatory statements.”

After reviewing the complaint and verifying the complainant’s statement ticket, the Borivali Judicial Court held in Mumbai on 4 October 2016 issued a subpoena against the buyer.

The home buyer then moved to the Mumbai High Court, trying to revoke the complaint and subpoena, but failed.