If person defamed publishes bad imputation made upon him;can he charge MAKER of imputation 4 defamation,India?

Question

If PERSON DEFAMED is the man........
-who publishes the bad imputation made upon him
-who drags the defamatory matter in notice of third person
-who communicate the defamatory matter to the public.
Now can the PERSON DEFAMED charge the MAKER of imputation for defamation ; when imputations were made during one to one personal chatting on some internet chat site in India?

Answer 1

Personal chatting doesn't amount to defamation till it is between two individuals, but if it is open to others or general public then any thing imputated that amounts to insult/harm to the reputation of the person will be covered under the definition of defamation not otherwise. So there are two main ingredients in this concept of defamation, one such imputation should be amounting to insult or harm to the reputation of the person and the second it should be conveyed to him in presence of others or in public before whom such imputation bring disrepute to this person, any thing short of both of these is no defamation as far Indian law is concerned.

Answer 2

Well there is the key "Chatting on the Internet". Can you prove without a reasonable doubt that the person sitting on the other end of the chat where the alleged imputations were made was in fact the person that you would charge for defamation? Maybe there was a party going on and someone wandered into the computer room and just sat down and started to type in a reckless manner. Publishing something on the Internet does not constitute substantial proof of intent to defame nor call for a charge of punitive damage. The Internet publishing is also subject to alteration by a intercepting party such as a hacker. Internet chat sites are not viable sources with basis for lawsuits. They are in fact unregulated and there are too many variables rendering the evidence as inconclusive. I would say no.

Answer 3

You cannot "Charge" - only the court can "frame the charge". You can merely accuse the person of committing offence u/S.499 IPC ie defamation. If the court is prima facie satisfied with your complaint, it will issue Summons to the accused to answer the charge u/S.499 IPC and/or whatever other charges may be applicable. I dont think there is any case law in India concerning defamation made during 'chat' on the internet, but there is no reason why you or your lawyer cannot make out such a case in accordance with Sec.499.