Defamation Ordinance, 2002
(LVI of 2002)
An Ordinance to make provisions in
respect of defamation
[Gazette of Pakistan 1st
October, 2002 ]
F. No. 2(1)/2002-Pub.---The
following Ordinance promulgated by the President is hereby published for
general information:--
WHEREAS
it is expedient to make provisions in respect of defamation and for matters
connected therewith or incidental thereto;
AND
WHEREAS, the President is satisfied that circumstances exist which render it
necessary to take immediate action;
NOW,
THEREFORE, in pursuance of the Proclamation of Emergency of the fourteenth day
of October, 1999, and the Provisional Constitution Order No. 1 of 1999, read
with the Provisional Constitution (Amendment) Order No. 9 of 1999, and in exercise
of all powers enabling him in that behalf, the President of the Islamic
Republic of Pakistan is pleased to make and promulgate the following
Ordinance:--
1.
Short
title, extent and commencement.---(1) This Ordinance may be called
the Defamation Ordinance, 2002.
(2) It
extends to the whole of Pakistan
(3) It
shall come into force at once.
2.
Definitions.---In
this Ordinance, unless there is anything repugnant in the subject or context,--
(a)
“author” means the originator of the
statement;
(b)
“broadcasting” means the
dissemination of writing, signs, signals, pictures and sounds of all kind,
including any electronic device, intended to be received by the public either
directly or through the medium of relay stations, by means of,
(i)
a form of wireless radio-electric communication
utilizing Hertzian waves, including radiotelegraph and radiotelephone, or
(ii)
cables, computer, wires, fiber-optic
linkages or laser beams, and “broadcast” has a corresponding meaning;
(c)
“editor” means a person or operator
having editorial or equivalent responsibility for the content or the statement
or the decision to publish or circulate it;
(d)
“newspaper” means a paper containing
public news, intelligence or occurrences or remarks or observations or
containing only, or principally, advertisements, printed for distribution to
the public and published periodically, or in parts or members, and includes
such other periodical works as the Federal Government may, by notification in
the official Gazette, declare to be newspaper;
(e)
“publication” means the communication
of the words to at least one person other than the person defamed and includes
a newspaper or broadcast through the internet or other media; and
(f)
“publisher” means a commercial
publisher, that is, a person whose business is issuing material to the public,
or a section of the public, who issues material containing the statement in the
course of that business.
3.
Defamation.---(1)
Any wrongful act or publication or circulation of a false statement or
representation made orally or in written or visual from which injures the
reputation of a person, tends to lower him in the estimation of others or tends
to reduce him to ridicule, unjust criticism, dislike, contempt or hatred shall
be actionable as defamation.
(2) Defamation
is of two forms, namely:--
(i)
slander; and
(ii)
libel.
(3) Any
false oral statement or representation that amounts to defamation shall be
actionable as slander.
(4) Any
false written, documentary or visual statement or representation made either by
ordinary from or expression or by electronic or other modern means or devices
that amounts to defamation shall be actionable as libel.
4.
Defamation
actionable.---The publication of defamatory
matter is an actionable wrong without proof of special damage to the person
defamed and where defamation is proved, damage shall be presumed.
5.
Defences.---In
defamation proceedings a person has a defence if he shows that—
(a)
he was not the author, editor,
publisher or printer of the statement complained of;
(b)
the matter commented on is fair and
in the public interest and is an expression of opinion and not an assertion of
fact and was published in good faith;
(c)
it is based on truth and was made
for public good;
(d)
assent was given for the publication
by the plaintiff;
(e)
offer to tender a proper apology and
publish the same was made by the defendant but was refused by the plaintiff;
(f)
an offer to print or publish a
contradiction or denial in the same manner and with the same prominence was
made but was refused by the plaintiff;
(g)
the matter complained of was
privileged communication such as between lawyer and client or between persons
heaving fiduciary relations;
(h)
the matter is covered by absolute or
qualified privilege.
6.
Absolute
privilege.---Any publication of statement made
in the Federal or Provincial legislatures, reports, papers, notes and
proceedings ordered to be published by either House of the Parliament or by the
Provincials Assemblies, or relating to judicial proceedings ordered to be
published by the Court or any report, note or matter written or published by or
under the authority of a Government, shall have the protection of absolute
privilege.
Explanation.---In
this section legislature includes a local legislature and Court includes any
tribunal or body exercising the judicial powers.
7.
Qualified
privilege.---Any fair and accurate publication
of parliamentary proceedings, or judicial proceedings which the public may
attend and statements made to the proper authorities in order to procure the
redress of public grievances shall have the protection of qualified privilege.
8.
Notice
of action.---No action lies unless the
plaintiff has, within two months after the publication of the defamatory matter
has come to his notice or knowledge, giving, to the defendant, fourteen days’
notice in writing of his intention to bring an action, specifying the
defamatory matter complained of.
9.
Remedies.---Where
defamation shall be proved to have occurred, the Court may pass order directing
the defendant to tender an apology, if acceptable to the plaintiff, and publish
the same in similar manner and with the same prominence as the defamatory
statement made and pay reasonable compensatory damages as general damages with
a minimum of Rs. 50,000 (Rupees fifty thousand) or shall undergo three months’
imprisonment and in addition thereto, any special damage incurred that is
proved by the plaintiff to the satisfaction of the Court.
10.
Code
of Civil Procedure and Qanun-e-Shahadat Order to apply.---The
Code of Civil procedure, 1908 (Act No. V of 1908) and the Qanun-e-Shahadat,
1984 (P. O. No. 10 of 1984) shall mutatis
mutandis, apply to the proceedings under this Ordinance.
11.
Ordinance
not to prejudice action for criminal defamation.---Nothing
in this Ordinance shall prejudice any action for criminal libel or slander
under any law for the time being in force.
12.
Limitation
of actions.---An action against--
(a)
an author, editor, proprietor or
publisher of a newspaper;
(b)
the owner of a broadcasting station;
(c)
an officer, servant or employee of
the newspaper or broadcasting station; or
(d)
any other purpose,
for defamation contained in the newspaper or broadcast from
the station or its publication otherwise shall be taken within six months after
the publication of the defamatory matter came to the notice or knowledge of the
person defamed.
13.
Trial
of cases.---No Court inferior to
that of the District Judge shall have jurisdiction to try cases under this
Ordinance.
14.
Court
to decide the case expeditiously.---The Court shall decide a case
under this Ordinance within a period of six months.
15.
Appeal.---An
appeal against the final order of the District Judge shall lie to the High
Court within thirty days of the passing of such order;
Provided
that no appeal shall lie against an interlocutory order of the Court.
16.
Power
to make rules.---The Federal Government may, by
notification in the official Gazette, make rules to carry out the purposes of
this Ordinance.
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