THE state is responsible for protecting and promoting citizens’ right to free speech. We, however, are witnessing a worrying trend towards the opposite — a chilling effect on open discussion and debate, fuelled by the use (and abuse) of outmoded and draconian legal provisions incompatible with democracy. One aspect of this phenomenon is the escalating rash of criminal defamation proceedings against individuals speaking out on matters of public interest — journalists, political activists and women breaking the silence on endemic abuse and harassment. Defamation is a criminal offence under Sections 499 and 500 of the Pakistan Penal Code, and Section 20 of the Pakistan Electronic Crimes Act, 2016. It should be noted that there is still recourse against libel under civil law. But criminal libel laws are by design unreasonably punitive to individuals and harmful to society; in execution, law-enforcement agencies are often found to be capricious and coercive. Despite the fact that such laws make exceptions for true statements in the public interest, the mere initiation of criminal proceedings against those doing so is enough to stifle free speech. The potential for abuse is even graver.

None of this is surprising; it is a reflection of similar experiences in other countries where defamation remains a criminal offence. So much so that many international bodies, including the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of the Right to Free Speech, have long been calling for criminal libel laws to be abolished. So have local rights groups in Pakistan. In recent years, many countries, recognising their detrimental effect, have repealed criminal libel laws. Criminal defamation is a tool that favours the might of the powerful over the voices of those who are less so. Pakistan must go the way of other rights-affirming states and move to abolish it. Time and again, we have seen how the system lets down, and in some cases contributes towards even more harm, victims who seek recourse from it.

Published in Dawn, October 8th, 2020