6 Criminal Defamation (Libel and Slander)

Definition: defamation — the imputation to a person of anything with intent to harm, orknowing it will harm, that person's reputation (by words, signs or visible representation). The two classical forms (the syllabus's pair):1. Libel — the permanent form: writing, printing, pictures, the online post (the grave form — its permanence multiplying the harm; the internet-era libel being the daily modern case: social- media posts, YouTube, the comment thread — where the Electronic Transactions Act 2063's electronic-document offences overlap);2. Slander — the transient form: the spoken word, the gesture (the village rumour, the shouted accusation).Nepal's law: the Code's defamation provisions (by principle) — imputation with intent/knowledge to harm reputation; the defences' classic structure: truth (with the public-interest/public-good condition — truth told to injure not always protected), good faith/fair comment (the honest opinion on public conduct), privilege (fair and accurate reports of proceedings); the punishment's modest scale (fine/imprisonment short) matching the offence's privacy-invading but non-violent nature; the free-speech tension (the journalist's peril — the press-freedom critique of criminal defamation, the constitutional guarantee of expression (Article 17) read against the Code's chill; the civil-defamation alternative's reform argument; the Online-moderation era's speech governance debates — the balance every essay must argue).