Delhi court summoned to Senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh to face trial under ections 499 and 500 of the Indian Penal Code, in a criminal Defamation case lodged against him by BJP President Nitin Gadkari after recording statements of Gadkari and BJP National Secretary Bhupinder Yadav, also a Rajya Sabha MP. Singh accused Gadkari of having business links with MP Ajay Sancheti who allegedly pocketed a huge sum in the coal block allocation.
Gadkari, in his statement recorded in the court, had denied having any business ties with Sancheti and had said Singh had levied “totally false and defamatory” allegations against him to “give the impression that I have been responsible for allocation of coal mines” to Sancheti.
In his complaint, Gadkari has said the Congress-led UPA government is facing a lot of heat on account of its irregularities as brought out by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) in coal blocks allocation and accused Singh of making baseless allegations against him to divert attention from the issue.
Gadkari’s counsel contended that Singh’s statement had the “clear intention to malign the reputation of the complainant.”
The court had also recorded the statement of an authorised representative of a national English daily in which the alleged defamatory statement of Singh was published.
It might turn out to be an opportunity to measure public discourse and criticism against the defamatory law in India. Defamation is a legal wrong emerging from an act of injuring a person’s reputation and sullying their character without lawful justification or excuse.
Libel and slander, both are creatures of English common law, but they are not treated as distinct from each other in Indian jurisprudence. India offers remedy both under civil and criminal law. The civil law for defamation is not codified as legislation, however it is a criminal offence under section 499, Indian Penal Code. It is up to the accused to substantiate that they are protected by one of the 10 exceptions listed under Section 499, exceptions include stating a true fact against a person for public good; expressing an opinion in good faith about an act of a public servant; or even making imputations on the character of another provided it’s in good faith and for the public good. The Indian Constitution protects freedom of speech as a facet of fundamental rights under Article 19, subject to reasonable restrictions, including decency and defamation.
No comments:
Post a Comment