Overview

• The Supreme Court issued notice on pleas by the Foundation for Independent Journalism and deputy editor Ajoy Ashirwad Mahaprastha challenging magistrate-issued summons upheld by the Delhi High Court in May 2025.
• Justice M. M. Sundresh orally remarked that the time has come to decriminalise defamation while the bench agreed to hear the matter.
• Trial proceedings against The Wire were stayed pending further hearing, with the case arising from a 2016 report that former JNU professor Amita Singh says falsely implied she authored a controversial dossier.
• Criminal defamation now falls under Section 356 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, even as the Supreme Court’s 2016 Subramanian Swamy ruling had upheld the constitutionality of the offence under the old IPC framework.
• Senior advocate Kapil Sibal appeared for the petitioners, and the bench tagged the case with other pending criminal-defamation matters, noting no legal change has been made at this stage.