Defamation 101: What you need to know

                          DEFAMATION

* Defamation consists in injury to the reputation of a person.

* Mental suffering caused to the person defamed is the gist of this wrong.

* Lowering him in other's estimation.

* Defamation is the act of saying false things in order to make people have a bad opinion of someone.

* The plaintiff's right to reputation outweighs the right of free speech.

IN ENGLISH LAW 

English law divides libel actions into slander

and slander. Defamation is a representation made in some permanent form, such as written, printed, pictorial, image or deed. Defamation is the publication of a defamatory statement in passing. In English law, the difference is important for two reasons:

1. Defamation is only a civil offense, while libel is both a delict and a misdemeanor

2. A lawsuit for defamation can be brought to court, except in exceptional cases, only if special damage is proven. You can sue

yourself for defamation.

SLANDER= CONVEYED BY SPOKEN WORDS/GESTURES.

INDIAN LAW 

Unlike English law, Indian law treats libel and defamation equally. Both arecrimes and damages. Moreover, the weight of severaldecisions is to make defamation, like defamation, actionable by itself.

•ESSENTIALS OF DEFAMATION 

 1. The statement must be defamatory;

 2. The statement must refer to the plaintiff; and,

 3. The statement must be published

 Sec 294 IPC-utter obscene words in a public place.

• The statement must be

offensive Whether or not a statement is offensive depends on how right members of society are likely to take it. If the statement

is likely to have a defamatory effect on the plaintiff, it is no defense to say that it was not intended to be defamatory.

The statement must relate to the plaintiff.

If the statement is taken to be referring to the  plaintiff, the defendant will be liable and it will be no defence that the defendant did not intend to defame the plaintiff.

• If a newspaper publishes that Rahul singh,a resident of Mussoorie is convicted of bigamy and if rahul singh of Mussoorie is not convicted of bigamy, he can file a defamation suit.

The statement must be published.

•Publication means making known the defamatory matter to someone other thanthe defamer. Sending a defamatory letterto the plaintiff is not defamation. If a third party without permissionreads a letter intended for the plaintiff, the defendantis not liable. /If the defamatory matter is on a postcard or telegram, the defendant responds./Communicating something offensive to onespouse to the other spouse is slander./Everyonewho repeats the slanderous matter isas responsible as the perpetrator of the act, because every repetitionis new. publication giving rise to a new action.

                          DEFENCES

* JUSTIFICATION OR TRUTH

* FAIR COMMENT

* PRIVILEGE ABSOLUTE OR QUALIFIED

JUSTIFICATION OR TRUTH

• According to the law of crimes, the truth of defamation is a perfect defense.Protection is availableeven if the publication is made maliciously.Under the Criminal Code, simply proving that the allegationis true is not a defense. The firstexception to the sec.

• 499,IPC requires that apart from the truththe imputationmust show that it ismade for public use.

FAIR COMMENT

- Comment must be fair.

- It must be a comment, that is an expression of opinion rather than assertion/ statement of facts.

- The matter commented must be of public interest.

Privilege

The  law treats sone occasions to be privileged and a defamatory statement made on such occasions is not actionable.

Privilege is of 2 types: 

1.Absolute

2.Qualified

Absolute privilege: In matters of absolute privilege, no action lies for the defamatory statement even though the statement is false or has been made maliciously. 

- parliamentary proceedings.

- judicial proceedings.

- State communications.

Qualified privilege:

Unlike the defence of absolute privilege, in this case it is necessary that the statement must have been made without malice.

- statement should be made in discharge of a duty or protection: former employer to new employer/ creditor to creditor/ interview board/ DPC

- Report of parliamentary, judicial or other public proceedings( truthful/ without malice/ public good) 

Arun Jaitley - Arvind Kejriwal Ram-Jethmalani

• Jaitley filed a defamation suit seeking Rs 10-crore in damages after Kejriwal and five other AAPleaders accused him of alleged irregularities andfinancial irregularities under the DDCA. which was chaired by Jaitleyfor about 13 years till 2013.

• Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today sued Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal inanother defamation suit worth Rs 10 crore afterthe last lawyer Ram Jethmalan confirmed thatJaitley was called a thug. clientinstructed him to do so./ Jethmalani accused Jaitleyof "committing crimes and frauds".