The Supreme Court Thursday suspended defamation proceedings in five cases initiated by the Tamil Nadu government against BJP leader Subramanian Swamy for making critical observations against former chief minister J Jayalalithaa. A bench of Justice Dipak Misra and Justice UU Lalit, while suspending t...

An Andhra Pradesh law student was arrested under the IT Act, presumably section 66A, and the IPC, for allegedly posting a comment on Facebook in English and Telugu that stated “I love u hudhoodh”, referring to the destructive cyclone and noting that it was taking revenge against “betrayers”, reporte...

A Bangalore-based businessman was arrested and jailed by police for 21 days in April under section 66A of the IT Act for “spreading canards” about another on online forums, reported The Hindu (via Pranesh Prakash ). The businessman has filed a complaint with the National Human Rights Commission (NHR...

The Bombay high court has served a show cause contempt notice on the Mumbai Mirror for reporting a litigant’s allegation made in court earlier this year that a judge hearing was corrupt.

NGO workers attacked by a violent mob, saved by police, then arrested by them.

Singh & Singh drafted the defamation notice on behalf of India TV producers Rajat Sharma and Ritu Dhawan, which was sent to their former employee Tanu Sharma for her sexual harassment allegations against the channel and to Newslaundry reporter Manisha Pande for her story “Tanu Sharma Vs India T...

The Delhi High Court on 23 June blocked 472 websites, but later updated its John Doe order to only block 219 websites, for alleged copyright violation, reported Medianama . The order, which came on the complaint of FIFA 2014 broadcasting rights owner Multi Screen Media, was only implemented in July....

Legal assistance NGO i-Probono and human rights organisation Amnesty International India recommended changes in defamation and contempt laws to the Law Commission of India to meet international standards on freedom of speech and expression and protect journalists and civil society from the looming t...

After threatening to sue the authors and publishers of the book Gas Wars – Crony Capitalism and the Ambanis in April for Rs 100 crore, Reliance Industries (RIL) yesterday issued a press release to announce the release of a 56-page presentation and promotional video.

[Read the litigation files & IB reports]: After the Essar Group last week tried to bring an Intelligence Bureau (IB) report into its litigation against Greenpeace, the NGO is claiming that it’s a strategic litigation against public participation (SLAPP).

Nine Kerala students were arrested and bailed on Sunday after posting “NaMo” as a crossword clue to the expected solution “NAyeente MOn”, which, according to the Times of India loosely translates to “son of a bitch”, only several days after six other Kerala students and educational staff were arrest...

Two members of staff and four students of a Kerala polytechnic were arrested, then bailed, after publishing a campus magazine that contained a photograph of Narendra Modi alongside Adolf Hitler, George W Bush, Osama Bin Laden and others in a “negative faces” collage, reported the PTI . They, and the...

A Mumbai resident’s anticipatory bail application for arrest under hate speech laws was rejected, after his anti-Modi Facebook posts led to an FIR against him under sections 153(A), 295(A) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and section 125 of the People’s Representation Act and 66-A of the Information T...

A project aims to build a network of lawyers interested in fighting so-called SLAPP suits against activists and publishers, and to lobby for changes in freedom of speech laws.

Khaitan & Co and Mulla & Mulla have served defamation notices on behalf of members of the Reliance family on authors of the book Gas Wars, who are defended by Amicus Juris.

The embattled Sahara Group has withdrawn a defamation case in the Calcutta high court, which had granted a stay order, against Mint journalist Tamal Bandhyopadhyay’s book Sahara: The Untold Story . As part of the settlement, the book will now include a disclaimer by Sahara stating: “The book at best...

“Mumbai cops cite s66A language, seek to block articles against police Chief,” tweets @karunanundy [‘Offending’ article] [Notice via @svaradarajan]

The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) filed criminal defamation notice against Congress Party chief campaigner Rahul Gandhi, who had said at a rally on 6 March that “RSS people killed Gandhiji”. The RSS objected that it had not killed Mahatma Gandhi at all, and that the remarks by Rahul had “harmed ...

Election Commission wants paid news to be crime : Election Commission said it has proposed to the law ministry to make “paid news” a criminal offence, estimating that Rs 500 crore was currently being spent on paid news [ NDTV ] RamJet accuses Kejriwal of demonic pact with Congress : Senior counsel a...

Advocate Lawrence Liang, part of the Bangalore-based Alternative Law Forum, has issued a legal notice to Penguin India, claiming that the publisher has violated freedom of speech laws and readers’ rights by agreeing to destroy all copies of Wendy Doniger’s book The Hindus.