“This is the article of the American website from which Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra stole/plagiarised to use in her speech in the Lok Sabha. She has lifted the words directly from the article and said them. The honour of a Parliament is in danger.”

The copy of the article posted online by Chaudhary itself indicates that Longman picked his 12 early warning signs of fascism from the Holocaust Museum poster, and that these were not his own. Nevertheless, Chaudhary’s segment on Zee where he made this claim, and his tweet, gained a significant deal of traction. Martin Longman himself eventually tweeted and clarify that Moitra was being “falsely accused of plagiarising me.” He also had some choice words for the right-wing in all countries.

What is the pre-summons stage in a criminal defamation case? And why is it relevant?

Criminal defamation complaints cannot be made to the police and instead have to be made to a magistrate, who can then order an investigation and for the case to begin. Section 199 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) also makes it clear that the complaint has to be by a person aggrieved by the alleged offence. In such cases, the court has to examine the complaint made by the aggrieved person, which needs to contain details of how the offence of criminal defamation is made out (essentially lowering of their reputation) and a list of witnesses who can testify towards this. After this, the complainant and their witnesses are to be examined on oath by the magistrate, according to Section 200 of the CrPC. The magistrate can also order an investigation/inquiry into the matter by the police, to see if there are sufficient grounds for proceeding with the case (Section 202, CrPC). The accused is not asked for their statement at this time. If, after considering the statements of the complainant and the witnesses and the results of any investigation/inquiry, the judge does not think there are sufficient grounds for proceeding, then they are to dismiss the case (Section 203, CrPC). Brief reasons for this are to be recorded in writing. It is only if the magistrate feels that there are sufficient grounds to proceed in the case, that they can then summon the accused and issue process in the case (Section 204, CrPC). Personal appearance of the accused can be dispensed with at the magistrate’s discretion, in which case the accused’s lawyer’s presence is sufficient. It is only after this that the main trial can begin, hence the differentiation between the pre-summoning and post-summoning stages in criminal defamation cases.