Why it should be retained?

♤ Freedom of speech and expression of media is important for a vibrant democracy and the threat of prosecution alone is enough to suppress the truth. Many times the influential people misuse this provision to suppress any voices against them.

♤ Considering anecdotal evidence, every dissent may be taken as unpalatable criticism.

♤ The right to reputation cannot be extended to collectives such as the government, which has the resources to set right damage to their reputations.

♤ The process in the criminal cases itself becomes a punishment for the accused as it requires him to be personally present along with a lawyer on each date of hearing.

♤ Given that a civil remedy to defamation already exists, no purpose is served by retaining the criminal remedy except to coerce, harass and threaten.

♤ It goes against the global trend of decriminalizing defamation

o Many countries, including neighbouring Sri Lanka, have decriminalized defamation.

o In 2011, the Human Rights Committee of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights called upon states to abolish criminal defamation, noting that it intimidates citizens and makes them shy away from exposing wrongdoing.