By Asim Shahzad
LAHORRE: The government has passed the Punjab Defamation Bill, 2024 in the Punjab Assembly while the opposition and journalists community walked out from the press gallery rejecting the bill outrightly, terming it a black law.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Mujtaba Shujaur Rahman presented the bill in the House.
The bill will be applied to print, electronic and social media.
As the case may be, the bill will also apply to fake news spread through YouTube, Tik Tok, X/Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
Actions will be taken according to the law on the news spread to harm the personal life and public position of a person.
Special tribunals will be set up for defamation cases which will be bound to decide cases within six months.
Under the bill, there will be a compensation of three lakh rupees for the effected persons.
In case of allegations against persons in constitutional positions, the High Court Benches will be competent authority to hear the case.
The facility of the government legal team will be available for legal assistance in cases for women and transgenders.
The government rejected the proposal of journalistic organisations to postpone the bill.
In a meeting with the Punjab information minister, journalistic organisations had demanded that the bill be delayed for a few days.
So speaker rejected all of opposition amendments and passed the bill with simple majority .
The opposition also rejected the defamation bill. The opposition submitted more than ten amendments to the bill in the Punjab Assembly.
Opposition Leader Ahmed Khan Bhachar said at the beginning of arguments in favor of his amendment that the Defamation Bill 2024 is a black law and will not be a part of it.
Mujtaba Shujaur Rahman opposed sending the bill back to the Select Committee.
He said a satisfactory discussion has already taken place in the Committee and there was no need to refer it further to the Select Committee.
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