DEFAMATION
1 INTRODUCTION
Defamation is an injury to reputation of a person by a statement which is false. As reputation
is person’s property so if someone damage anyone’s reputation he is liable under the law.
According to Section 500 of the Pakistan Penal Code, 1860 punishment for defamation has been
described here whoever defames another shall be punished with simple imprisonment for a term
which may extend to two years, or with fine, or with both.
2 ESSENTIALS OF DEFAMATION
• The statement must be defamatory
• The statement must refer to the plaintiff
• The statement must be published
3 FORMS OF DEFAMATION
There are two forms of defamation
1. Slander- It is the publication of a defamatory statement in a transient form.
2. Libel– It is the representation made in some permanent form.
4 ENGLISH LAW ON LIBEL AND SLANDER
Under English criminal law, libel is treated as a crime but slander is not. Slander is only a civil
wrong.
This distinction between libel and slander is mainly on two reasons:
1. Under Criminal law, only libel has been recognized as an offense. Slander is no offense.
2. Under the law of torts, slander is actionable, except in few cases where special damage
has to be proved. Libel is always actionable i.e. without any proof.
5 INNUENDO
A statement is prima facie defamatory when its natural and obvious meaning leads to that
conclusion. Sometimes it may happen that the statement was prima facie innocent but because
of some secondary meaning, it may be considered to be defamatory. For this secondary instance
plaintiff must prove the secondary meaning i.e. innuendo which makes the statement
defamatory.
6 DEFENSES
The defenses to an action for defamation are
1. Justification of truth (In a civil action for defamation, the truth of the defamatory matter
is a complete defense and the reason for this is that “ Law will not permit a man to recover
damages for something being true about him “.Under criminal law on the other hand merely
proving that the statement was true is not a good defense and besides this,
the defendant has to show that it was made for public good also.)
2. Fair comment (Making a fair comment on matters public interest is a valid defense to an
action for defamation.)
3. Privilege (These special occasions when the law recognizes that the right of free speech
outweighs the plaintiff’s right to defamation and a defamatory statement made on such
occasion is not actionable.)
7 CONCLUSION
To sum up everything Pakistan penal code mention defamation in section 500. Defamation is
considered as property according to law and law also present some defenses as well in this
matter.