What are the essentials of Defamation?

There are in general four essentials of the tort of defamation. These include:

• There must be a defamatory statement.
• The defamatory statement must be understood by right-thinking or reasonable minded persons as referring to the plaintiff.
• There must be a publication of the defamatory statement, that is to say, it must be communicated to some person other than the plaintiff himself.
• In case of slander, either there must be proof of special damages or the slander must come within the serious classes of cases in which it is actionable per se. 

Further Reading :

• The Indian Penal Code (IPC)
• Indian Polity Notes