Supreme Court on Friday dismissed batch of petitions challenging the constitutional validity of sections 499 and 500 of the IPC providing for criminal defamation.
This was a classic case where three political rivals stood on the same side. Congress vice president, Rahul GandhiDelhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and BJP leader Subramanian Swamy had all challenged criminal defamation laws, but the Supreme Court refused to provide any relief to the petitioners and upheld the validity of the law today.
The petitioners had argued that the provisions on criminal defamation under these sections were not needed as the Constitution’s Article 19(2) imposed reasonable restriction on freedom of speech and expression.
Subramanian Swamy had moved court after the J Jayalalithaa government filed a number of defamation cases against him.
Rahul Gandhi is facing defamation case in Maharashtra because of his alleged statement against the RSS, the BJP’s ideological mentor.
Kejriwal too is currently embroiled in several defamation cases, both criminal and civil, against him.
More to come