Punjab governor hints at sending Defamation Bill back to assembly

LAHORE: Punjab Governor Sardar Saleem Haider Khan hinted at not assenting the Defamation Bill 2024 and sending it back to the provincial assembly for reconsideration, ARY News reported.

In a statement, the governor said that he would ask the Punjab government to reconsider the bill. Sardar Saleem Haider Khan said that the bill should not have been passed ‘in a hurry’.

He said that all stakeholders including the journalist community must have been taken on board before the legislation.

“It would have been much better if the law is passed through consultation,” he added.

It is pertinent to mention here that the Punjab Assembly on Monday passed the ‘controversial’ Defamation Bill 2024, aimed at curbing the spread of fake news across print, electronic, and social media platforms amid strong protest from the opposition.

The assembly witnessed a ruckus when Punjab’s Minister of Parliamentary Affairs Mujtaba Shuja-ur-Rehman tabled the ‘controversial’ bill, while the journalists boycotted the proceedings to register their protest.

The bill addresses the pervasive issue of misinformation on social media platforms, including YouTube, TikTok, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Under the bill, defamation case can be filed on those spreading ‘fake news’.

The bill also proposes a fine of up to Rs3 million and special tribunals to hear defamation cases, which will be required to deliver verdicts within six months.

It also mentioned that in cases of allegations against individuals holding constitutional posts, the high court will hear the cases.

The journalist community rejected the Defamation Bill 2024 and termed it ‘non-democratic

During the press conference, Arshad Ansari, the president of the Lahore Press Club, stated that a protest was called in the Punjab Assembly today on behalf of government members following a meeting of the Joint Action Committee regarding the Defamation Bill 2024.

Ansari recalled that a consensus failed to be reached with the government members, as they had already decided to present the Defamation Bill in the assembly today.

He added that the committee had offered to delay the protest and requested the government members to postpone the bill for a week, but this request was not accepted.

HRCP’s reaction

Meanwhile, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has expressed grave concern over the defamation bill 2024, with its chairman saying the content and language of the bill is “troubling on several counts”.

“First, it proposes a parallel structure to adjudicate claims of defamation. HRCP has consistently decried special parallel judicial structures on the grounds that they invariably violate fundamental rights and other universally accepted norms governing the fair functioning of the judiciary,” the statement said.