The Supreme Court on Monday observed that the time has come to decriminalise defamation laws in India while agreeing to examine a plea seeking to quash criminal proceedings initiated against a media organisation.
A bench of Justices M.M. Sundresh and Satish Chandra Sharma issued notice to former Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) professor Amita Singh in response to a petition filed by the Foundation for Independent Journalism, which operates The Wire news portal, and its political affairs editor Ajoy Ashirwad Mahaprashasta.
“I think the time has come to decriminalise all this…” Justice Sundresh remarked orally during the hearing.
The plea challenged a trial court order that had issued summons in a criminal defamation case filed by Professor Singh. The case arose from the publication of a dossier on the portal, which she claimed was defamatory and amounted to a hate campaign against her.
This marks the second round of litigation in the matter. In 2023, the Delhi High Court had quashed the summons. However, the Supreme Court later reversed that decision and remanded the case to the trial court for fresh consideration. The trial court again issued summons, which were subsequently upheld by the high court.
The court’s latest remarks revive the debate over India’s colonial-era criminal defamation provisions. Critics have long argued that such laws stifle press freedom and are often misused to harass journalists and activists.
