Can corporate entities sue for defamation, questions Priya Pillai in Supreme Court

Defamation appears to be the flavour of the season in the Supreme Court of India. Months after the apex court upheld the constitutional validity of criminal defamation, another challenge to existing defamation laws has been filed in the country’s apex court..More specifically, the top court’s JS Khehar and Arun Mishra JJ. will now examine whether companies can be complainants in defamation proceedings..The current petition arises from defamation proceedings initiated by the Essar Group against Greenpeace activist Priya Pillai. Senior counsel Shyam Diwan, Karuna Nundy, Avi Singh and Liz Mathew appeared for the petitioners..The petitioner has challenged the locus of corporate entities to claim that their reputation has been damaged by the petitioner’s statements. In other words, if corporate entities have no ‘right to life’ under Article 21, can they claim a right to reputation?.Pillai has also challenged the constitutional validity of Sections 499 and 500 of the Indian Penal Code. However, the Bench clarified that it would only be examining the second explanation found in Section 499 of the Indian Penal Code..The said explanation reads,.“Explanation 2.—It may amount to defamation to make an imputation concerning a company or an association or collection of persons as such.”.That is not all..Politician Subramanian Swamy was has sought intervention in the matter, arguing that defamation was a “colonial era law”, and ought to be struck down. Swamy had raised similar arguments in the criminal defamation matter..Both Swamy and Divan pressed for referring the case to Constitution Bench though the Court turned down the request.