Rajesh (engineer) 02 July 2017
I am a Government officer received an RTI application containing few defamatory and ironic statements about me.I conveyed the same to CPIO and CPIO has rejected the application and send rejection letter to RTI applicant.Contents of RTI applications are seen by myself and officers of RTI cell. I have not suffered any damages in my career due to those defamatory words,only I felt sad and hurted personally. Can I file defamation suit against RTI applicant??
Advocate Kappil Cchandna (Expert Bail & Criminal Defence Lawyer at Delhi Supreme Court of India) 02 July 2017
Raveena Kataria (Advocate ) 05 July 2017
Unfortunately, you may not be able to file such suit. The following elements need to be present in order to constitute the tort of defamation:
-There has to be defamatory material (that could injure someone's reputation.)
-The material should clearly refer to the person filing the suit.
-There has to be publication of the defamatory matter. Which is to say, the matter has to be converyed to some person other than the person whom it concerns. Since, in this case, the matter was directly communicated to you, it cannot amount to defamation.
(Side note, it would have been turned into a criminal offence if all the above essentials were met with and it had been done with the intention/knowledge to defame.)
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