E-mail Abuse - Sec. 500 IPC

Indian Penal Code (IPC)

Section 500. Punishment for defamation

Whoever defames another shall be punished with simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine, or with both.

CLASSIFICATION OF OFFENCE

Para I

Punishment—Simple imprisonment for 2 years, or fine, or both—Non-cognizable—Bailable—Triable by Court of Session—Compoundable by the person defamed.

Para II

Punishment—Simple imprisonment for 2 years, or fine, or both—Non-cognizable—Bailable—Triable by Magistrate of the first class—Compoundable by the person defamed with the permission of the court.

COMMENTS

A person cannot be said to have committed an offence under sec­tion 500, or 501 or 502 or 504 of the Code merely because some news item or article is published attributing cer­tain utterances to that person; Laloo Prasad v. State of Bihar, (1997) 2 Crimes 498 (Pat).