The Punjab Assembly has passed a contentious piece of legislation aimed at curbing “fake news”, despite strong resistance from the Opposition members and journalists.
The legislation, called the Defamation Bill, 2024, was passed on Monday. The bill’s passage flared up protests in the assembly, with members of the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC), which is backed by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), and journalists rallying against the legislation, according to a report by Dawn.com.
Copies of the controversial bill were shredded in protest following its passage and journalists in the press gallery boycotted the bill by walking out of the assembly, terming the legislation “a curb on free media”. The protests erupted in response to the rejection of amendments to the bill proposed by the Opposition.
Punjab Finance Minister Mujtaba Shujaur Rehman tabled the bill, which was passed through a voice note. The journalists had requested a delay of at least one week in the voting for the bill. The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government refused their request and went ahead with the proceedings, however.
The Defamation Bill, 2024, will empower special tribunals to penalise individuals found involved in the dissemination of “fake news” with heavy fines up to Rs3 million. The legislation applies to print, electronic, and digital media. The tribunals will have to decide the cases against individuals accused of peddling disinformation within six months. For those holding constitutional positions, however, the cases will be taken up by the high court.
“Subject to the provisions of this Act and any other law for the time being in force, defamation shall be a civil wrong and the person defamed may initiate an action under this Act without proof of actual damage or loss and, where defamation is proved, general damages shall be presumed to have been suffered by the person defamed,” reads the bill.
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has expressed serious concern over the hasty passing of the bill, stating that it “throttles free expression”. The commission, in a statement on X, said, “Five days is too short a period for any meaningful consultation with civil society and digital and mainstream media stakeholders on what is a complex legal proposal affecting an entire digital ecosystem of opinion makers.”
