What is the Punishment for Printing/Selling Defamatory Material?

While anything that lowers the authority of the courts can be considered as contempt, there are certain exceptions given in the law. These include innocent publication and distribution of matter, fair and accurate reporting of a judicial proceeding, fair criticism of judicial actions, complaint against presiding officers of subordinate courts and truth.

The MCC applies to all social media platforms. There are five categories of social media that are regulated under the MCC.

All print media including newspapers have to follow the rules under the MCC.

Saying or writing something which is harmful to a person's reputation, is called defamation. It’s against the law to intentionally harm someone’s reputation, cause them to be hated or disgraced through text, image, cartoons, caricatures or effigies.

Advertisements or sponsored programmes or reports which support or criticize a candidate with an intention to influence the election cannot be broadcasted on the television or the radio.

If you say or write something to insult the reputation of a person, group of people or a company, a court can punish you for the crime of defamation. The punishment for defamation, in such cases, can be jail time up to 2 years and/or a fine.