New Delhi : The Supreme Court on Monday remarked that the time has come to decriminalise defamation, legal news portal Bar and Bench reported. In its 2016 judgment, the Supreme Court upheld Section 499 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), which was in force back then. Since then, Section 499 has been replaced by the Section 356 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, which in turn has replaced the Indian Penal Code.
The Supreme Court’s suggestion today came as it heard a plea challenging a summons issued by a magistrate, and subsequently upheld by the Delhi High Court, to the online publication The Wire in a criminal defamation case filed by a Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) professor, Bar and Bench reported.
The criminal defamation case was filed against The Wire and its reporter following a 2016 news article alleging the professor’s involvement in compiling a 200-page controversial dossier titled “Jawaharlal Nehru University: The Den of Secessionism and Terrorism”, which called JNU a “den of organised sex racket.” During Monday’s hearing, Justice MM Sundresh observed, “I think time has come to decriminalise all this…” Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal, representing The Wire, concurred with the Court’s observation, supporting the need for reform.
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