A criminal defamation case against 11 activists for publishing a report on pesticide use in the cotton belt of Warangal district of Andhra Pradesh was quashed by a two Judge bench in the Supreme Court last month.

The case was filed by Crop Care Federation (formerly Pesticides Associations of India), a consortium of pesticide manufacturing companies against the activists in the magistrate's court of Warangal for publishing a report titled "The Killing Fields of Warangal" in 2002.

The report was an investigation of the impacts of pesticides use in the district and was complied after interacting with the farmers, doctors in the area who treated the patients affected by spraying of pesticides, officials in the district including joint director- agriculture and other stakeholders in the district. It was termed defamatory by the largest and most powerful pesticide companies in the country.

In its judgement on 20th July, the Supreme Court observed that “The general tenor of the report indicates that the report meant to focus the harmful effects of exposure to pesticides. It is quite evident from the report that it was not meant to harm, hurt or defame any individual or the manufacturing company”.

The Federation initiated criminal proceedings against the members of the fact-finding team and others associated with the publishing of the said report stating that the report is a malicious and defamatory attempt by the members of the team to defame the pesticide manufacturers and traders among the general public, thereby affecting their credibility and their business. Whereas, the activists say the objective was neither against any industry, nor against any particular association. The concern was about human health and ecology as a whole.

The Warangal court had issued non-bailable arrest warrants against some of the accused in 2007, after Andhra Pradesh High Court had dismissed the appeal to quash the proceedings.

The fact finding team of the report consisted of representatives of organisations involved with agricultural issues in rural areas, sustainable development, environmental protection and related public health issues. This included representatives of Toxics Link (New Delhi), Community Health Cell (Bangalore) and Sarvodaya Youth Organization (Warangal).

The list of  those who were charged included: Dr. Rajan R Patil (Epidemiologist), Ms. Madhumita Dutta (Corporate Accountability Desk – The Other Media), Mr. Ravi Agarwal (Toxics Link), Dr. D. Narasimha Reddy, Mr. P. Damoder (Sarvodaya Youth Organisation), Mr. Rajesh Rangarajan (formerly with Toxics Link),  Ms. Abitha Anand (independent Journalist), Salil Chaturvedi (Splash Communications), Kishore Wankhade (formerly with GGF) and others.