LANDMARK CASE

Subramanian Swamy v. Union of India

(2016) 7 SCC 221 · Supreme Court of India · Criminal law

At a glance

Citation: (2016) 7 SCC 221
Court: Supreme Court of India
Area of law: Criminal law
In one line: Yes. Reputation is part of Article 21, and criminal defamation is a reasonable restriction on speech.

1 Facts

Politicians challenged criminal defamation under Sections 499 and 500 IPC as violating free speech.

2 Issue

Is criminal defamation constitutional?

3 What the court decided

Yes. Reputation is part of Article 21, and criminal defamation is a reasonable restriction on speech.

4 Why it matters

The provisions continue in the BNS.

5 Think about it

Should defamation be only a civil wrong? What are the arguments both ways?

6 Analyse it yourself

Read the full judgment from an official source or a law database, then brief it in seven steps: facts, issues, arguments, decision, ratio, obiter and significance. Always check the citation before you rely on it.

7 More cases on Criminal law

Abhayanand Mishra v. State of Bihar AIR 1961 SC 1698
Amish Devgan v. Union of India (2021) 1 SCC 1
Bachan Singh v. State of Punjab (1980) 2 SCC 684
Balwant Singh v. State of Punjab (1995) 3 SCC 214
Barendra Kumar Ghosh v. Emperor AIR 1925 PC 1
Basdev v. State of PEPSU AIR 1956 SC 488

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