The League of Nations was an intergovernmental organization founded on January 10, 1920, as part of the Treaty of Versailles that ended World War I. It was established with the aim of promoting international cooperation, resolving disputes, and preventing future conflicts. The League of Nations was proposed by President Woodrow Wilson of the United States as one of his Fourteen Points for peace. The League's charter was included in the Treaty of Versailles, which was signed by the victorious Allied powers and Germany. The League's headquarters were located in Geneva, Switzerland. The League of Nations consisted of two main bodies: the Assembly and the Council. The Assembly served as a forum for all member states to discuss and vote on important issues, while the Council was responsible for making decisions and taking action on matters of international concern. The Council consisted of permanent members (the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Japan) and non-permanent members e...
What is defamation?
Defamation
is the communication of false statements that causes harm to a person's
reputation. It can be written or verbal. Written defamation is called libel
whereas verbal defamation is called slander. Defamation is punishable by law as
a person's reputation is considered their property.
The history
of defamation can be traced to Roman and German law, with punishments ranging
from capital punishment to tongue cutting. In England, imputation of crime or
social disease or casting aspersions on professional competence constituted
slander until the Slander of Women Act was enacted, making imputation of
unchastity illegal. French defamation laws were severe, and retraction of
libelous material was severely punished. In Italy, defamation is criminally
punishable, and truth seldom excuses defamation.
To prove an
offense of defamation, it must be shown that the accused created or
disseminated defamatory content. 'Creating' can refer to authorship, but
knowingly duplicating or copying defamatory content with intent can also result
in liability. The purpose of defamation law is to protect a person's
reputation, and public figures cannot use it to avoid being held accountable.
'Making' and 'publishing' have been additional terms considered by courts. It
must be proved that the defamatory material was intended for an audience. The
statement must be defamatory, and its validity is determined by how the general
public perceives it.
Law of
Defamation in India:
In India,
defamation is both a criminal offense punishable by a prison sentence and a
civil offense punishable through the award of damages. The Indian Penal Code,
1860 (IPC) contains the criminal law on defamation, while defamation is
penalized as a civil offense under the law of torts. Defamation is defined in
Section 499, and the punishment is outlined in Section 500. The offense of
defamation refers to any spoken, written, or visual statement that is intended
to harm another person's reputation. Exceptions to this rule include conduct
related to public issues or public performance and imputations of truth
necessary for the public benefit.
Consequence
of conviction on legislature post:
Recently a
certain legislature was convicted for the offence of defamation and has been
awarded two years imprisonment. The judgment has brought into public discussion
about the future of qualification of the post.
In a
judgment dated July 10, 2013, the Supreme Court of India, while disposing of
the Lily Thomas v. Union of India case (along with Lok Prahari v. Union of
India), ruled that any Member of Parliament (MP), Member of the Legislative
Assembly (MLA), or Member of a Legislative Council (MLC) who is convicted of a
crime and given a minimum of two years' imprisonment, loses their membership of
the House immediately. Previously, convicted members retained their seats until
they exhausted all judicial remedies in lower, state, and Supreme Court of
India. The bench of Justice A. K. Patnaik and Justice S. J. Mukhopadhaya also
declared Section 8(4) of the Representation of the People Act unconstitutional,
which allowed elected representatives three months to appeal their conviction.
Even though
the judgment had faced some resistance it is settled that under Article 141 of
the Constitution of India that the judgment of the Hon’ble Supreme Court
becomes the law of the land and hence disqualification of legislature post in
case of conviction with minimum two years of imprisonment stands valid. However,
it would depend upon the judicial wisdom whether or not the legislature lose
his/her post.
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