The Supreme Court on Friday upheld the constitutional validity of the criminal defamation law, which was recently challenged by political leaders like Rahul Gandhi, Subramanian Swamy, and Arvind Kejriwal.
The court dismissed a batch of petitions, which stated that law has a “chilling effect” on free speech. According to Apex Court the current defamation law is constitutionally valid.
Notably, sections 499 and 500 of Indian Penal Code make defamation a criminal offence and as per the court, person’s right to freedom of speech should be balanced with the other person’s right to reputation and that’s why both the sections are necessary.
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