The Defamation Bill, 2024, which was passed last month by the Punjab Assembly despite strong opposition, has been signed into law, according to a report by Geo News.
The controversial piece of legislation became a flashpoint for contention between the Punjab government and the bill’s opponents — including journalists, digital rights advocates, and members of the Opposition — after it was approved on May 20. The bill’s passage elicited strong resistance from the media, with journalists present in the press gallery in the assembly walking out to register their protest.
A furore had broken out in the assembly premises after all proposed amendments to the bill were rejected. Copies of the legislation were shredded by members of the Opposition, mainly the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) backed by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and other stakeholders. Journalists termed the legislation “a curb on free media”.
The Defamation Bill, 2024, was signed into law today (Saturday) by acting Punjab Governer Malik Muhammad Khan in the absence of Governer Sardar Salim, who was on leave, Geo News has reported. Salim’s absence from the assembly has raised a slew of questions over the signing of the bill. Arshad Ansari, president of the Lahore Press Club, has said that signing of the bill was carried out “under a plan”.
Following its approval, the defamation law was challenged in the Lahore High Court (LHC) on the grounds that a new law cannot be formulated under the presence of the already existing legal framework around defamation.
The new Defamation Act, 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.
Over 80 civil society organisations rejected the law, then a bill, in a joint statement last month, calling it “draconian” and “regressive”. “We outright reject the Punjab Defamation Bill (2024) as a gross infringement on the fundamental rights of freedom of expression and press freedom,” the statement read. “This bill serves as a draconian and regressive tool to suppress dissent and criticism, particularly targeting journalists and the wider public.”
Referring to the bill’s provisions allowing individuals holding constitutional positions to be dealt with differently in case of defamation, the statement says that the legislation’s “explicit mandate of safeguarding ‘public officials’ against defamation is nothing short of an authoritarian maneuver, designed to shield those in power from accountability and scrutiny”.
The signatories included Media Matters for Democracy (MMfD), Digital Rights Foundation (DRF), Bolo Bhi, and Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF), which expressed alarm over the bill’s broad definitions of the terms “journalists” and “newspapers” to cover social media users. They said the bill set a “dangerous precedent” for suppressing free speech on digital platforms.
“The bill’s provisions, such as allowing defamation actions to be initiated without proof of actual damage and imposing extortionate fines, amount to nothing less than legal intimidation tactics,” the statement reads. “By replacing district courts with tribunals, the bill opens the door for undue interference,” according to the statement.
