Criminal Defamation in India: A Challenge to Democracy

• The Supreme Court of India upheld criminal defamation in Subramanian Swamy (2016), arguing that reputation is part of the right to life.

• Justice M.M. Sundresh expressed concern over the growing use of criminal defamation proceedings by private individuals and political actors as an insurance against criticism and retribution.

• Criminal defamation proposes imprisonment for speech that injures reputation, a remedy disproportionate to the harm caused.

• The law has become a tool of intimidation, with lower judiciary often issuing summons without weighing the threshold of defamatory speech.

• Criminal complainants have weaponised statements taken out of context or distorted in circulation, compounded by attaching the threat of jail time to contested interpretations.

• Criminal defamation has fostered opportunistic litigation, entangled rivals in a punishing process rather than seeking timely resolution.

• Civil courts can address the harm of reputational injury and strike a balance between free expression and protecting reputation.

• Many countries, including the U.K., have abolished criminal defamation due to its incompatible with democratic debate.

Criminal defamation India is important topic for Civil service exam (WBCS).

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