The Supreme Court on 7 April 2015 has asked the Centre to respond to a plea of BJP leader Subramanian Swamy challenging constitutional validity of penal provisions relating to the offence of defamation.
A bench of Justices Dipak Misra and Prafulla C Pant also asked senior advocates K Parasaran and T R Andhyarujina to assist it as amicus curiae in the case. The Writ Petition filed under Article 32 challenges the Constitutional vires of criminal provisions pertaining to defamation in the IPC and the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) – Sections 499 and 500 of the IPC and Section 199 (2) of the CrPC that empowers the Sessions Court to take cognizance of an offence of defamation against a public servant. Petitions contend that the the provisions violate the fundamental right to freedom of speech and expression enshrined under Article 19 (1) (a) of the Constitution of India.
