Verdict on constitutional validity of criminal defamation law today

New Delhi: The Supreme Court will pronounce its verdict on Friday on a batch of petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the criminal defamation law on the ground that the State governments are misusing the provisions.

A Bench of Justices Dipak Misra and Prafulla C. Pant had reserved judgment in August 2015 on petitions filed by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, actor Vijaykanth,  and several others who drew the court’s attention as to how the law is being misused to target political opponents. The majority of the defamation complaints were filed only in Tamil Nadu by the TN CM Jayalalithaa and other ministers.