Despite upholding the constitutional validity of criminal defamation provisions in the Indian Penal Code, the Supreme Court on Friday decided to examine whether a government could slap this stringent charge against its detractors to 'stifle fair criticism'.

A bench of Justices Dipak Misra and C Nagappan issued notices to the Tamil Nadu government and Centre on a petition by DMDK leader A Vijayakant, against whom the state public prosecutor had initiated criminal defamation proceedings for criticising chief minister J Jayalalithaa at a public meeting in Dharmapuri last year. Arguments of Vijaya kant's counsel G S Mani were extracted succinctly by Justice Misra-headed bench after Friday's hearing: "Can criminal defamation be an anathema to the concept of fair criticism of the state government and disapproval of the views taken in the matters of administration and policy decisions."