In India, defamation laws, especially the criminal defamation laws, have been more abused than used. It is a surprise that these laws, made more than 150 years ago, still exist in a free world. It is even more surprising that a nation burdened with serious issues in justice delivery even entertains such cases when the priority should be to the contrary.

Defamation laws are used to threaten, bully and silence free speech and promote censorship so as to enable the criminal activities of a few. Very few cases have been filed with an intent to pursue truth and come clean. Anyone, with even the most remote connections, can seek out any of the thousands of lower courts in the country to mount an enormous challenge against free media. This possibility is dangerous to our democracy.

About the Speaker: A Passionate entrepreneur, Mahesh is a qualified CA, CMA and ACS. He started his career as an investment banker with SBI capital markets. He worked at the Outlook group for 17 years and headed it for more than 10 years in the capacity of President & Publisher of India's influential news magazine group. Mahesh believes that demographic dividend India seeks can turn into a nightmare if youth are not shown the right direction to best utilise their capabilities. CAREERS 360 is the result of his deep understanding of student issues, and the information gaps that need to be filled to help students Make informed career choices.

After leaving his employment and becoming an entrepreneur, Mahesh feels unshackled. He expresses himself freely on current day happenings on political, business and education policies of the government. He believes in creating a more tolerant and transparent society where rule of law is applied in equal measure. criminal defamation laws in the country.