Defamation

Defamation is one of the most common allegation that routinely gets levelled against a media house/ media professional involved in publishing and broadcasting. Defamation law suits are filed seeking damages, public apologies etc. from the publisher/broadcaster for damage to the reputation of the person filing the suit. In the following paras, I would attempt to simplify the law on defamation from the perspective of a layman's understanding.

Whats "defamation" ?

Defamation means a false publication calculated to bring a person in disrepute. It is an intentional false communication (be it print, broadcast, Internet or any other means of communication), either published or publicly spoken, that injures another persons’ reputation or good name. Thus, the essentials of defamation claim involves two things, communication to public and a consequent damage to the reputation, good will or image of a person.

Thus to succeed in a defamation suit the following are the things that need to be present;

To succeed in a suit for defamation, the presence of the following four ingredients is necessary :

(i) The statement must be defamatory;
(ii) The statement must refer to the plaintiff;
(iii) The statement must be published by the defendant; and
(iv) The statement must be false.

Types of defamation

Defamation can be classified into two types, "Libel" and "Slander". Libel is malicious defamation, expressed either in print or writing or by signs and pictures etc. which is intended to damage the reputation, good will of a person. On the other hand Slander means the same offence of defamation committed orally through spoken words used by one person against another. While therefore both libel and slander are two different forms of defamation, libel is in writing while slander is oral. Each of these give a right of action to the defamed person against the person so doing.

Legal Remedy

Legal remedy under the law can be invoked by filing complaint under section 499 & 500 of the Indian Penal Code.

Defence in a defamation suit

Accused person can seek any of the following as defences in a defamation suit

(i) Truth- That the statement alleged to defamatory is a truth;

(ii) Statements made in good faith and with a reasonable belief that they were true;

(iii) Innocent dissemination is a defense available when the had no actual knowledge of the defamatory nature of the statement or had no reason to believe that the statement was defamatory.

(iv) Privileged Statement is a defense when witnesses' testimony, attorneys' arguments, and judges' decisions, rulings, and statements made in the court, or statements made by legislators on the floor of the legislature or in the Parliament, or statements made by a person to his/her spouse, are the cause for the claim.

(v) Opinion: If the allegedly defamatory assertion is an expression of opinion rather than a statement of fact, defamation claims usually cannot be brought because opinions are inherently not falsifiable.