Unlike politicians and public figures, private individuals need to be protected against malicious personal abuse in forums such as Goanet. One good mechanism to do this is to file a criminal defamation complaint. As opposed to many other democratic countries, in India defamation is covered both under civil and criminal law. Civil action is a waste of time and money. But criminal law can bite. Here is an article on the Wall Street Journal blog by a prominent Supreme Court lawyer that talks about this:
http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2012/11/15/inside-law-how-defamation-works-in-india/ Here is how a criminal defamation charge can bite, and put the scurrilous abuser out of business in the public sphere: QUOTE Tardiness in the Indian legal process also leads to more criminal complaints being filed than civil actions for damages because a criminal case followed by a summons from the magistrate’s court is often perceived as a greater threat and nuisance than a civil remedy that may take an age to come to fruition. Indeed, just the threat of punitive criminal action can be enough to serve as an effective deterrent to the publishing of future allegations. UNQUOTE ....Anish Dayal, Supreme Court and Delhi High Court lawyer. Cheers, Santosh
