Section 379: Cases in which publication is conditionally privileged

The publication of defamatory matter is conditionally privileged, and no person is
criminally liable in respect thereof, in the following cases‐
(1) if the defamatory matter consists of an extract from, or an abstract of, a petition to,
or a Gazette or document published by or under the authority of, the President or a
Governor of a State, or a Minister, and the publication is made without ill‐will to the
person defamed; or
(2) if the defamatory matter constitutes, in whole or in part, a fair report, for the
information of the public, of any public proceeding of any court, whether preliminary or
final; or of any public proceeding of any body, constituted, or authorised to hold such
proceeding by any Act, law, statute or order; or of any public meeting so far as the
public is concerned in the matter published; if in every such case the publication is
made without ill‐will to the person defamed; or
(3) if the publication is for the information of the public at the request of any
government department or peace officer, or if the defamatory matter is any notice or
report issued by such department or officer, for the information of the public, and if in
every such case the publication is made without ill‐will to the person defamed; or
(4) if the defamatory matter consists of fair comment either on any matter the
publication of which, or on any report which, is hereinbefore in the preceding or this
section referred to; or
(5) if the defamatory matter consists of fair comment upon the public conduct of any
person in public affairs, or upon the public conduct of any person employed in the
public service in the discharge of his public duties, or upon the character of any of
such persons so far as it appears by such conduct; or
(6) if the defamatory matter consists of fair comment on any published book or other
literary production, or any composition or work of art, or performance publicly
exhibited, or any other communication made to the public on any subject; or of the
character of the author of such book, production, composition, work of art, or the
person exhibiting such performance, so far as their characters may appear therefrom
respectively; or
(7) if the publication is in good faith for the purpose of seeking remedy or redress for
any private or public wrong or grievance from a person who has, or is reasonably
believed by the person publishing to have, the right to remedy or redress such wrong
or grievance; or
(8) if the publication is made in good faith by a person having any lawful authority over
another, and is made by him in the course of a censure passed by him on the conduct
of that other, in matters to which such lawful authority relates; or
(9) if the publication is made on the invitation or challenge of the person defamed; or
(10) if the publication is made in order to answer or refute some other defamatory
matter published by the person defamed, concerning the person making the
publication or some other person; or
(11) if the defamatory matter constitutes an answer to inquiries made of the person
publishing it, relating to some subject as to which the person by whom or on whose
behalf the inquiry is made, has, or on reasonable grounds is believed by the person
publishing to have, an interest in knowing the truth, and if the publication is made in
good faith for the purpose of giving information in respect of that matter to that
person; or
(12) if the defamatory matter constitutes information given to the person to whom the
defamatory matter is published, with respect to some subject as to which he has, or is
on reasonable grounds believed to have, such an interest in knowing the truth, as to
make the conduct of the person giving the information reasonable in the
circumstances:
Provided that as regards paragraphs (7), (8), (9), (10) and (11) of this section, the
person making the publication honestly believes the matter published to be true, the
matter published is relevant to the matters the existence of which may excuse the
publication of defamatory matter, and the manner and extent of the publication do not
exceed what is reasonably sufficient for the occasion; and as regards paragraphs (12)
that the defamatory matter is relevant to the subject therein mentioned, and that it is
either true, or is made without ill‐will to the person defamed and in the honest belief,
on reasonable grounds, that it is true.