Supreme Court's Big Remark On Defamation

The Supreme Court on Monday remarked in favour of decriminalising the offence of defamation while hearing a case against online news portal 'The Wire' filed by Amita Singh, a retired teacher from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU).

A Bench of Justice MM Sundresh and Justice Satish Chandra Sharma issued a notice to Ms Singh based on a petition moved by the Foundation for Independent Journalism, which runs the news portal. "I think the time has come to decriminalise all this. How long will you go on dragging this?" the top court bench said.

Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the news portal, agreed with the Court's observation. The case pertains to an article published on the news portal in 2016 that alleged Professor Singh headed a group of JNU teachers who had compiled a 200-page dossier, also called a 'den of organised sex racket', with derogatory remarks about the University. According to the report, the dossier was titled 'Jawaharlal Nehru University: The Den of Secessionism and Terrorism'.

The article stated that the dossier was submitted to the JNU administration, where some JNU teachers were accused of encouraging a decadent culture in JNU by legitimising separatist movements in India.

Shortly after, Ms Singh filed a criminal defamation case in 2017 against 'The Wire' and its reporter, and a magisterial court issued summons to the online news portal in connection with the defamation case. Last year, the top court set aside the summons and directed the magistrate court to re-examine the article and take a fresh call on the issuance of the summons. However, the lower court issued the summons to both the news portal and its reporter, following which it was challenged in the Delhi High Court, but was dismissed.

The news portal then filed a petition challenging the High Court's decision in the Supreme Court. Section 356 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) criminalises defamation. India is one of the few democratic countries where defamation is a criminal offence. Many politicians, including Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal, have challenged the constitutionality of the provision.