It's time to decriminalise defamation: Supreme Court

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday orally observed that it was about time that the offence of defamation is decriminalised.

The observation came from a bench comprising justices MM Sundresh and Satish Chandra Sharma while hearing a plea challenging the summons issued to an online news portal in connection with a defamation case filed by professor Amita Singh of Jawaharlal Nehru University.

The court issued notice to Singh on a plea moved by the Foundation for Independent Journalism. "I think time has come to decriminalise all this," justice Sundresh orally observed.


The apex court in 2016 had upheld the validity of Section 499 of Indian Penal Code (IPC) which dealt with criminalisation of defamation. Section 356 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita has replaced the earlier provision of Section 499 (of IPC).

Several politicians had in 2016 challenged the constitutionality of Section 499 of IPC but the same was upheld by the top court.

The instant defamation case is connected to the online news portal report which stated that professor Singh was at the helm of a group of JNU teachers who had compiled a 200-page dossier terming JNU a "den of organised sex racket". A criminal defamation case was filed by Singh in 2016. A magistrate had issued summons to the portal in the case in February 2017. The SC in 2024 had set aside the summons, asking the magistrate to take a fresh call on the issuance of summons after examining the news article.

In January this year, the magistrate again issued summons to the news portal. The same was upheld by the Delhi High Court in May, following which the news portal moved the SC.