Admittedly, it is all too easy to use defamation law to bully and silence journalists and activists. Big Business, after all, can deploy far more legal firepower than a small media outfit and outspend it many times over. A recent example of a corporate suing a publication is that of the Essar Group, which took exception to an article in The Caravan on the business house’s attempts to “manage” mediapersons and politicians through gifts and other incentives. An earlier case was that of the Crop Care Foundation of India against Rajasthan Patrika.

Many a seasoned journalist has a Defamation Suit or two hanging in the closet. Doyens such as the late Khushwant Singh and Vinod Mehta, who wore their journalistic independence on their sleeves and habitually needled politicians and businessmen, were unfazed by the occasional libel suit. It was one of the acknowledged hazards of the profession, which they took it in their stride.