Accrual of cause of action when defamatory material was posted on Internet/Facebook

Delhi High Court: Deciding a defamation case where the defamatory material was posted on Internet/Facebook, the Court, while relying on various Foreign Court judgments, held that the “Single Publication Rule” will apply where the original publication is in print and the re-publication is on the internet. The Court observed that the rule states that the publication of a book, periodical or newspaper containing defamatory material gives rise to only one cause of action for defamation, which implies, that the limitation period starts to run at the time the first publication is made, even if copies continue to be sold several years later. Hence the cause of action against the person for defamation in respect of the subsequent publication is to be treated as having accrued on the date of the first publication.

In the present case the issue was whether publishing of the alleged defamatory material, first in a booklet and then on the Internet/Facebook page, gives rise to a fresh cause of action every time the said offending material is viewed by people thereby creating a “Multiple Publication”, or whether the cause of action arises only when the offending material is first posted on the webpage/internet within the meaning of “Single Publication”. The Court held that it is the policy of the law of limitation to bar the remedy beyond the prescribed period such policy would stand defeated if the mere continued residing of the defamatory material or article on the website were to give a continuous cause of action to the plaintiff to sue for defamation/libel. If re-publication is resorted to by the defendant to reach different or larger section of public it would give rise to a fresh cause of action. [Khawar Butt v. Asif Nazir Mir, CS(OS) 290 of 2010, decided on November 7, 2013]