The Hindu : Defamation case: court issues notice to Centre, Tamil Nadu

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Saturday, Feb 28, 2004

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Defamation case: court issues notice to Centre, Tamil Nadu

By Our Legal Correspondent

NEW DELHI, FEB. 27. The Supreme Court today issued notice to the Centre and the Tamil Nadu Government on writ petitions filed by the Editors of two Tamil magazines, challenging the Constitutional validity of Sections 499 to 502 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) dealing with criminal defamation.

A three-judge bench, comprising the Chief Justice V. N. Khare, Justice S. B. Sinha and Justice S. H. Kapadia, directed that the petitions be tagged with a pending petition filed by The Hindu challenging the same provisions. The three petitions will come up for further hearing on April 5.

The petitioners, S. Balasubramanian, Editor, Junior Vikatan, and K. Rajendran, Editor, Kalki, submitted that Sections 499 to 502 of the IPC were violative of Articles 14, 19 and 21 of the Constitution, insofar as they related to speech and expression made in the media about the conduct of persons holding public offices.

They submitted that the Tamil Nadu Government had launched criminal defamation proceedings against them for publishing articles allegedly defamatory of the Chief Minister, Jayalalithaa.

In a free democratic society, those who held public offices must be open to criticism. A citizen had a legitimate and substantial interest in the conduct of public officials who played an influential role in society. Freedom of the Press was a countervailing interest, which was superior to any alleged rights possessed by public officials. Any law stifling such freedom would fall foul of the Constitutional guarantee enshrined in Article 19 (1) (a).

The threat of criminal action had an inhibiting effect on the freedom of speech and the law of defamation violated the freedom enjoyed by the Press in engaging in uninhibited debate about the involvement of public figures in public issues. It was thus violative of the fundamental rights enjoyed by the Press.

The impugned provisions of the IPC went beyond the requirements of reasonable restrictions and were liable to be struck down.

They sought quashing of the proceedings against them before the Principal Sessions Judge, Chennai.

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