By
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Mayuri Mahajan (9411)
Pratik Mukne (9415)
Vinaya Patil (9418)
Khushi Sen (9423)

According to the Indian Penal Code:
Whoever by words either spoken or intended to be read, or by signs or by visible representations, makes or publishes any imputation concerning any person intending to harm, or knowing or having reason to believe that such imputation will harm, the reputation of such person, is said, except in the cases hereinafter excepted, to defame that person
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Defamation may be by words, either spoken or intended to be read, or by signs or visible representation
Any person who makes or publishes any accusation concerning any person, knowing or having reason to believe that such accusation will harm, the reputation of such person, is said, to defame that person
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Whoever defames another shall be punished with simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to two years, or fine, or both
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Cyber crimes can involve criminal activities that are traditional in nature, such as theft, fraud, forgery, defamation and mischief, all of which are subject to the Indian Penal
Code
The abuse of computers has also given birth to a gamut of new age crimes that are addressed by the Information Technology
Act, 2000
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SMC Pneumatics (India) Pvt. Ltd. vs. Jogesh Kwatra:
India’s first case of cyber defamation was reported when a company’s employee (defendant) started sending derogatory, defamatory and obscene e-mails about its Managing Director
The e-mails were anonymous and frequent, and were sent to many of their business associates to tarnish the image and goodwill of the plaintiff company
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The plaintiff was able to identify the defendant with the help of a private computer expert and moved the Delhi
High Court
The court granted an ad-interim injunction and restrained the employee from sending, publishing and transmitting e-mails, which are defamatory or derogatory to the plaintiffs
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Restrictions on media: Under the Indian Constitution
The Supreme Court and High Courts are empowered to intervene and punish the publication of any matter, which causes prejudice to a pending proceeding, to keep the stream of justice clear and pure so that parties may proceed with safety both to themselves and to their character
No person can flout the mandate of law of respecting the courts for establishment of rule of law under the cloak of freedom of speech and expression guaranteed by the
Constitution
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Nowadays, the sensationalism involved in certain high profile criminal cases has become very common with the spread of mass communication
Example can be taken from the recent Aarushi murder case
Moreover, such media trials unnecessarily draw the judiciary into the public scanner, often making a mockery of the justice delivery system
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Criminal Defamation Against
Tamil bi-weekly Junior
Vikatan
Vikatan had published article against Chief Minister M.
Karunanidhi
Complaint was filed against the author of the article and
Editor, Printer and Publisher
Principal Session Judge P
Devdoss adjourned hearing in the case
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FIR against Vijaya Karnataka for Dalit abuse
FIR was registered against Vijaya Karnataka daily in Kavoor Police station
Vijaya Karnataka had published defamatory and abusive artice against SC, ST lecturer of
Mangalore
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Defamatory article was published against Mangalore university Journalism
Department Lecturer
Umeshchandra
FIR was registered under SC,
ST prevention of Atrocities Act
Even though FIR was registered once again the daily published abusive article
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Kareena-Shahid photos not in good taste: SC
A debate over media ethics fueled by the media releasing to the public the photographs of two
Bollywood actors in an intimate posture reached the Supreme Court
Two judges, hearing a case relating to media rights, observed that it was not in good taste
A Bench comprising Mr Justice Y.K. Sabharwal and Mr Justice D.M. Dharmadhikari, hearing the preliminary arguments
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The petitions, “by the Hindu” Editor N. Ravi and others, were filed in the wake of several defamation cases lodged by the Tamil Nadu
Government against them for allegedly publishing defamatory news items and articles
The court further hinted at the need to create a balance between public interest and defamation so that the freedom was not stretched beyond limits
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Earlier, when the petition was sought to be dismissed as most of the cases had been withdrawn by the Tamil Nadu Government,
Advocate Salve highlighted the importance of the issue that involved important question of law especially with regard to press freedom
He stated “We are a newspaper and we have to report several happenings for public interest. We cannot have Section 499 of the IPC always staring at us. It has a chilling effect.”
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Ahmedabad : A defamation case has been filed against
Janata Party leader
Subramanian Swamy for allegedly using slanderous language against Congress general secretary
Rahul Gandhi
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The suit was filed by Gujarat Youth
Congress General Secretary Prakash Gurjar in the Court of Metropolitan Magistrate,
B.T. Dave
The complaint has been filed under section
499(Defamation) of the Indian Penal Code
(IPC)
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Defamation case against A.R Rahman and Anil
Kapoor
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In a complaint filed before a local court in
Mumbai Tapeshwar Vishwakarma, general secretary of Slum-dwellers Joint Action
Committee, has alleged that the film depicted slum-dwellers in bad taste as it used the derogatory and objectionable title 'Slumdog
Millionaire' thus calling Indians dogs and slum dwellers slum dogs, which is defamatory
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The meaning of 'Slumdog Millionaire' in Hindi is the millionaire dog of slum-dwellers,
Vishwakarma alleged, adding that such a name was a violation of human rights and honour
Vishwakarma said he has already approached the national and state human rights commissions for necessary action against Rahman and Kapoor, who portrays the role of a game show host in the film
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Tamil actress Khushboo
Interview to English periodical
“India Today” in September
2005
Degenerating remarks against
Tamil women, spoke of premarital sex etc
A bench of Chief Justice K.G.
Balakrishnan, Justice R.V.
Raveendran and Justice M.K.
Sharma
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School teacher Uma
Khurana accused of running a sex racket
Complaint against Sudhir
Choudhary, CEO of TV channel “Live India”
Fake Sting operation that stirred violence in Sarvoday
Kanya Vidyalaya
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Shah Rukh
Khan vs.
State of
Rajasthan and Ors.
Dated:
20/8/2007
Movie: Ram
Jaane
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Complaint against: Shah Rukh Khan
(Actor), Rajeev Mehra (Director), Pravesh
Mehra (Producer), the Co-Script-writer, the female lead, the distributors for Rajasthan and for India
Defamation of the lawyer community due to
Shah Rukh Khan’s statement in the movie
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Defamation law doesn't work well to protect reputations
It prevents the dialogue and debate which is necessary to seek the truth
Published statements - including libellous ones - are open, available to be criticised and refuted
The worst part of defamation law is its chilling effect on free speech
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Thus, Section 499 has different sub-sections and categories, which were evident through these few cases
In the contemporary society, defamation has got several aspects to itself. People have become increasingly aware of the Legal system and are rising against such injustice
Hence, we, as media students, need to understand the system ourselves
Being aware of your rights and observing some simple guidelines can help you make informed choices about what to say and publish
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