MORE THAN NINE YEARS after it had upheld the constitutional validity of criminal defamation law – then Sections 499 and 500 of the repealed Indian Penal Code and Section 199 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 – the Supreme Court on Monday remarked that time has come to decriminalise defamation law, now contained in Section 356 of the prevailing Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
The remark, from Justice M.M. Sundresh heading a bench also comprising Justice Satish Chandra Sharma, came in the course of the hearing of a plea by the news portal The Wire challenging the issuance of summons by a magistrate court on a complaint by Jawaharlal Nehru University Professor Amita Singh, aggrieved by an article carried by the portal.
“The remark underscores the Supreme Court’s concern over the frequent invocation of criminal defamation and brings back into focus the issue of whether defamation involving private individuals can legitimately be classified as a crime when it serves no broader public purpose,” Justice Sundresh observed.
As Justice Sundresh remarked, “I think time has come to decriminalise all this.” Senior advocate Kapil Sibal agreed with the suggestion. Sibal was representing the petitioner, the Foundation for Independent Journalism, which runs The Wire.
