Many of the times in news channels or in social media we come near certain news as that a particular sect of community has protested or any personality has filed a suit for defamation against a film or series or a social media community for causing injury to their reputation.
What is Defamation?
Defamation refers to an injury to the reputation of a person caused by a false statement that harms the other person\’s reputation. It can both in oral or in written and usually constitutes a tort or a crime. Defamation can be categorized under two heads :
- Slander, also known as oral defamation and the publication or use of defamatory statements is an impermanent form that is with the use of verbal presentation or gestures.
- Libel, on the other hand, is the publication of a defamatory statement in written form that is through publication, printing, picture, etc.
What constitutes Defamation?
- The statement must be defamatory.
A statement is defamatory if its insults, ridicule any other person and lowers a person in the estimation of right thinking members of the society. The defamatory statement can be both oral and written.
- The statement must refer to the plaintiff.
In a suit of defamation the plaintiff has to prove that the defamatory statement was made or referred to the plaintiff .the intention is not an essential element in a suit for defamation.
- The statement must be published.
Publication of a defamatory statement means, making the defamatory matter known to some other person defamed and unless that is done, no civil action for defamation can be taken.
Defamation in context to Media Industry.
And only under these circumstances, a suit for defamation can strive and in context to the Media Industry, there are numerous legal suits of defamation filed against an artist, media house, etc. There is a very thin line between defamation and publishing media, it is important for the media to publish news that is true and also reaches the masses giving a positive direction and not a having negative impact. Media is the leader of communication due to its influence worldwide be it through news, movies, etc. and to avoid chaos in the greater population it is their responsibility to publish such statements that add value to the larger society than leading to chaos.
Cases
One of the earliest cases of such defamation suit are:
1. In Youssoupoff v. M.G.M. Pictures Ltd.
In a cinema film, not only the photographic part of it is considered to be libel but also the speech which synchronizes with it is also a libel. In Youssoupoff v. M.G.M. Pictures Ltd.,3 in the course of a film produced by an English Company called Metro Goldwyn Mayer Pictures Ltd., a lady, Princess Natasha, was shown as having relations of seduction or rape with the man Rasputin, a man of the worst possible character and a suit was brought against it, and, it states that pictorial representation can also lead to defamation.
2. Newton
The most popular in terms of movies or the recent one being the lawsuit brought against the movie Newton, a civil defamation suit was filed against the makers of the movie alleging them of putting the central reserve police force in a bad light. The case was filed by sub inspector Tamal Sanyal alleged that false implication was made against the CRPF. The movie shows two accused persons 1. Mudra & 2. Bora showed as the CRPF as a villain and an impediment for holding free and fair elections in India.it cast a shadow of doubt over the whole election process of India and the CRPF playing a vital role in it which is false, malicious and regarding that, the complaint asks for deletion of the scene from the movie and an unconditional public apology and to also compensate the complaint, a soldier and the CRPF.
3. Jolly LL.B 2 v Bata
The second such example of defamation suit was brought by the Bata footwear company against the makers of the movie Jolly LL.B 2, wherein the movie certain derogatory remark against the brand was made portraying that it as footwear is worn by lower strata of the society and one should feel humiliated wearing it. The trial court had found prima facie offense under section 500 (Defamation) and 120B (Criminal Conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code and holds sufficient ground for a suit.
4. Sharukh Khan versus The State of Rajasthan
The respondent, in this case, is a group of lawyers filed a suit against the petitioner Mr. Shahrukh Khan, Ms.Juhi Chawla, Mr. Rajiv Mehra (the director), Mr. Pravesh Mehra (the producer), Mr. Shrikant (the co-scriptwriter), and M/s Vinayak film Industries (the distributors in Rajasthan) alleging Defamation and Criminal Conspiracy, offense under section 500, 501, and 120(b) of the Indian Penal Code, as some statement used in the film brings the lawyer community into bad light by portraying that they can sell their morals for money
Apart from the defamation cases in movies, one might have commonly heard about social media trails and trolls defaming various persons. In India, Section 499 of the Indian penal code primarily governs the laws on defamation. This law has been extended to “electronic documents”. Section 469 of the IPC (forgery for purpose of harming reputation) has been amended by the Information Technology Act, 2000 to include \’electronic record forged\’ and now reads as a whole as – whoever commits forgery, intending that the document or electronic record forged shall harm the reputation of any party, or knowing that it is likely to be used for that purpose, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description of a term which may extend to three years, and shall also be liable to fine.
There are numerous cases of Facebook defamation suit, cyber defamation suit mostly attacking known personalities. One such instance of it is:
5. Amir Khan filed a defamation suit against Ajit Vadakail, a retired merchant navy officer for defaming the show Satyamev Jayate alleging that a false message which claims the donation being received by the show is being transferred to a trust working for a particular religion is being circulated in various social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, etc. damaging the actor’s image and also the reputation of the issue based show. The cyber cell immediately after the complaint deleted the site and the message and further, the suit was continued.
Defences to an action of defamation
There are certain defences that can be taken against the act of defamation.
- Justification of truth – In a civil action for defamation, the truth of the matter is a complete defence. The reason for the defence is that \”the law will not permit a man to recover damages in respect of an injury to a character which he either does not or ought not to possess though under criminal law, merely proving that the statement was true is no defence. There have been cases where these social media houses have taken the defence that they were stating the truth and did not intend to defame.
- Fair comment – Making a fair comment on matters of public interest is a defence to an action for defamation. Whether a statement is a fact or a comment on certain facts depends on the language used or the context in which that is stated.
- Privilege, which may be either “absolute privilege” or “qualified privilege”. There are certain occasions when the law recognizes that the right of free speech outweighs the plaintiff’s right to reputation: the law treats such occasions is not actionable. Absolute privilege is recognized under the following cases being: parliamentary proceedings or judicial proceedings.
Suggestive Remarks
Though defamation can be taken as a legal measure to protect one’s reputation, it also to a certain extent, questions the right of speech and expression and in addition to such cases media trolls are common these days, individuals feel it is their right to post any derogatory statement against any person be it of any sect or genre, proper technological law regulation is required to keep such trolls and misuse of liberty can be checked and fair criticism can be promoted because in most cases these defamation leads to serious consequences, having ruined most career and many of them being the victim of mental distress and depression, thus ruining their lives.
-Srabani Behera
KIIT School of Law
Reference.
2.https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/defamation-cases-filed-against-makers-of-newton-1809501
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