The two-judge bench of Justices Dipak Misra and Justice Prafulla C Pant said the right to life under Article 21 includes the right to reputation. The petitions against the current law were filed by a motley crew of politicians, including Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Subramanian Swamy.
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The pleas had sought setting aside of sections 499 and 500 (defamation) of the IPC and suggested that there is a need to decriminalise penal provision for offence of defamation. While, Kejriwal is facing cases under the same provisions lodged by the BJP’s Nitin Gadkari and others.
The constitutional validity of penal laws on defamation was challenged on the ground that they are “outmoded” and inconsistent with right to freedom of speech and expression.
While deciding on the petitions, the apex court also ruled that the petitioners can move the High Courts against summons issued in defamation cases, that too within eight weeks.
But take note of the SC’s word of caution for trial courts dealing with criminal defamation cases.
The petitioners had argued that the colonial Sections 499 and 500 of the IPC was an affront to article 19 (2) of the Constitution.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld the criminal defamation law.
“We are not like other countries. Nobody cares. In criminal defamation, there is some deterrence”, the Centre had replied in an affidavit before the Supreme Court.
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Holding that the legislature in its wisdom has not thought it appropriate to abolish criminality of defamation in the obtaining social climate, the bench brushed aside the contention that “the existence of defamation as a criminal offence has a chilling effect on the right to freedom of speech and expression”. Moreover, as per reports, the Court claims that defamation protects “societal interests” and “constitutional fraternity”.
