Time has come to decriminalise all this, says Supreme Court, hinting at scrapping criminal defamation

The Supreme Court on Monday suggested that it may be time to decriminalise defamation while hearing a case against the news portal The Wire, as reported by Live Law. 

The case involves a complaint filed by a Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) professor over a 2016 article.

The complaint said an article by The Wire’s Deputy Editor Ajoy Ashirwad Mahaprastha wrongly suggested that the professor had prepared a dossier calling JNU a “Den of Organised Sex Racket.”

The professor claimed that the editors did not check the dossier and used it for the magazine’s benefit, harming her reputation.

 A Delhi court had issued summons in 2017 against The Wire’s Editor Siddharth Bhatia and Deputy Editor Mahaprastha.

In 2023, the Delhi High Court cancelled the summons. But in 2024, the Supreme Court overturned that decision and sent the case back to the Magistrate for reconsideration. The new summons are now being challenged in the current proceedings.

The professor argued that under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNSS), the head of the agency should have been involved at the pre-cognizance stage. The Delhi High Court rejected this in May 2025, saying that since the complaint was filed in 2016, BNSS rules did not apply.

During Monday’s hearing, Justice MM Sundresh said, “I think time has come to decriminalise all this” Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal, who was representing The Wire, agreed with the Court and said the law needs reform.

Defamation is still a criminal offence in India under Section 356 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, which replaced Section 499 of the Indian Penal Code. In 2016, the Supreme Court had ruled that criminal defamation is constitutional, saying it protects the right to reputation under Article 21 and is a reasonable restriction on free speech under Article 19.