India, Sept. 22 -- The Supreme Court on Monday sparked renewed debate on India's colonial-era criminal defamation laws, as it agreed to hear pleas filed by news portal The Wire seeking to quash summons in a defamation case filed by former JNU professor Amita Singh.

During the hearing, a bench of Justice MM Sundresh and Justice Satish Chandra Sharma said that the time has come to decriminalise the defamation law, Live Law reported.

"I think the time has come to decriminalise all this," Justice Sundresh orally commented while agreeing to issue notice on the matter.

The top court made the observation while hearing a plea against The Wire and its Deputy Editor Ajoy Ashirwad Mahaprastha. The case stems from a 2016 article published by The W...