Defamation law under scrutiny

The Supreme Court's observation that it may be time to decriminalise defamation is loaded with possibilities, as courts across the country face a slew of such cases.

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A two-judge bench led by Justice MM Sundresh, and also comprising Justice SC Sharma, said this as it issued notice to a Jawaharlal Nehru University professor in the matter of a case against a news portal. The professor had filed the defamation suit in 2016 against an article that had alleged that the academic, along with a group of professors, had compiled a dossier that claimed that JNU was a 'den of organised sex rackets' and other wrongdoings. This is the second round of litigation in the case. The top court asked senior counsel Kapil Sibal, who is representing the news portal, how long this will drag on while suggesting that the law be decriminalised. Sibal agreed, saying a large number of individuals were facing prosecution under the law while mentioning a case again