INTRODUCTION
The law protects people from many types of harm, including harm to one‟s good name and character. Every
man has the right to protection of his reputation. Injury to one‟s reputation has been termed as
„DEFAMATION‟. Defamation is a „communication‟ that tends to harm the reputation of another to lower
his reputation in the community or deter third parties from associating with him. The meaning of defamation
is well known to legal professionals but to an ordinary or common person defamation is something new
even though it is something that they face in everyday in their day-to-day life either by knowing that this
statement provided by another person about them or someone else is defamatory in nature or by not. In
simple terms defamation can be termed as causing injury to reputation or status of another person.
When it comes to the Netflix series „HASMUKH‟ while the series was making everyone laugh now the
laugh is on series itself.
We will discuss defamation in the light of this series further more broadly.
, WHAT IS DEFAMATION?
According to Dr Winfield “Defamation is the publication of a statement which tends to lower a person in the
estimation of the right thinking members of society generally or which tends to make them shun or avoid
that person”.
Injury to one‟s reputation has been termed as DEFAMATION. If you cause to a person‟s reputation with
any lawful justification, then tort of defamation is committed.
Defamation must be distinguished from wrongful acts (not words) which injure reputation. If a person is
assaulted in a public place or if he is arrested unlawfully he may feel disgraced but these acts cannot come
under the category of defamation as in these cases the reputation has been injured by acts, and defamation
deals with injury of reputation by words.
There is also a difference between defamation and insult. The injury done to any person by words or by
representation is called as insult. Both of these differ from each other because while the former is an injury
only to one‟s dignity or self-respect the latter is a wrong done to regard or esteem in which one is held by
others. Therefore defamation requires publication to the third person whereas, insult may consist in abusing
a person only in his presence.
Kinds of defamation:-
There are two kinds of defamation
1-Libel 2-Slander
If defamation takes place in written format, printing, pictures or effigies, it is termed as Libel.
Whereas in slander, defamatory statement is made against a person by spoken words or some other
temporary form, whether visible or audible, such as gestures, hissing, or such other things. The medium
through which the slanderous statement is made is generally permanent. Therefore it is said that „libel is for
eyes and slander is for the ears‟.
Defamation under IPC
In India, under section 499 of India penal code both slander and libel are crime i.e. punishable without proof
of any damage. According to Indian penal code slander is considered more serious offence than that of libel
because of defamatory statement it is likely to cause breach of peace.
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The law protects people from many types of harm, including harm to one‟s good name and character. Every
man has the right to protection of his reputation. Injury to one‟s reputation has been termed as
„DEFAMATION‟. Defamation is a „communication‟ that tends to harm the reputation of another to lower
his reputation in the community or deter third parties from associating with him. The meaning of defamation
is well known to legal professionals but to an ordinary or common person defamation is something new
even though it is something that they face in everyday in their day-to-day life either by knowing that this
statement provided by another person about them or someone else is defamatory in nature or by not. In
simple terms defamation can be termed as causing injury to reputation or status of another person.
When it comes to the Netflix series „HASMUKH‟ while the series was making everyone laugh now the
laugh is on series itself.
We will discuss defamation in the light of this series further more broadly.
, WHAT IS DEFAMATION?
According to Dr Winfield “Defamation is the publication of a statement which tends to lower a person in the
estimation of the right thinking members of society generally or which tends to make them shun or avoid
that person”.
Injury to one‟s reputation has been termed as DEFAMATION. If you cause to a person‟s reputation with
any lawful justification, then tort of defamation is committed.
Defamation must be distinguished from wrongful acts (not words) which injure reputation. If a person is
assaulted in a public place or if he is arrested unlawfully he may feel disgraced but these acts cannot come
under the category of defamation as in these cases the reputation has been injured by acts, and defamation
deals with injury of reputation by words.
There is also a difference between defamation and insult. The injury done to any person by words or by
representation is called as insult. Both of these differ from each other because while the former is an injury
only to one‟s dignity or self-respect the latter is a wrong done to regard or esteem in which one is held by
others. Therefore defamation requires publication to the third person whereas, insult may consist in abusing
a person only in his presence.
Kinds of defamation:-
There are two kinds of defamation
1-Libel 2-Slander
If defamation takes place in written format, printing, pictures or effigies, it is termed as Libel.
Whereas in slander, defamatory statement is made against a person by spoken words or some other
temporary form, whether visible or audible, such as gestures, hissing, or such other things. The medium
through which the slanderous statement is made is generally permanent. Therefore it is said that „libel is for
eyes and slander is for the ears‟.
Defamation under IPC
In India, under section 499 of India penal code both slander and libel are crime i.e. punishable without proof
of any damage. According to Indian penal code slander is considered more serious offence than that of libel
because of defamatory statement it is likely to cause breach of peace.
1|Page
