Punishment: The punishment for the criminal offence of defamation, as prescribed by the IPC are:
Section 500. Punishment for defamation reads: Whoever defames another shall be punished with simple imprisonment for a term, which may extend to two years, or with fine, or with both.
Section 501. Printing or engraving matter known to be defamatory
Whoever prints or engraves any matter, knowing or having good reason to believe that such matter is defamatory of any person, shall be punished
— With simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine, or with both.
Section 502 Sale of printed or engraved substance containing defamatory matter
Whoever sells or offers for sale any printed or engraved substance containing defamatory matter, knowing that it contains such matter, shall be punished
— With simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine, or with both.
Civil law
In civil law, an action for defamation is claimed in the form of damages for causing injury to the reputation of the plaintiff. The amount of damages differs from case to case and is to be determined by the Judge.
Defences: Defences available for an act of defamation (civil) are: Justification: The defendant can justify his
statement by proving that his statement is substantially true.
Fair comment: The defendant can defend himself by showing that the statement is a comment and not a fact, the comment is on a matter of public interest and the comment is fair in nature.
Privilege: On certain occasions, defamatory statements are permitted by law itself even when the statement is false. Those occasions are called privileged occasions.
Privilege could be absolute or qualified in nature. Absolute privilege is provided on the grounds of public policy and without any condition attached to it. Qualified privilege is provided conditionally and in the absence of malice (the intent to harm). The instances of absolute privilege are Parliamentary proceedings and judicial proceedings while reports of Parliamentary and judicial proceedings come under qualified privilege.
