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Blasphemy Laws in India- A Question on India’s Democratic and Plural Nature

In an ideal world, freedom of speech and freedom of religion, considered to be basic fundamental rights, should be granted to everyone. But what happens when these rights create cumbersome commotion all across the world? Be it the Christian nations like Greece and Iceland, Islamic states like Saudi Arabia and Pakistan or a pluralistic nation like ours i.e. India, Blasphemy laws have always been the bone of contention and argued against by the civil society and human rights defenders. 

The term blasphemy means disrespect towards God, religion, a religious icon or anything that is considered to be sacred. Most countries have blasphemy laws in their penal codes though the examination of crime and intensity of the punishment differs from country to country. For instance, Qatar and Egypt have blasphemy laws for a particular religion while Denmark penalizes blasphemous acts against all the religions. The punishment for offence ranges from the death penalty in Pakistan to a mere fine in Italy. However, some of the countries do not have Blasphemy laws in their penal codes- the USA being the one. But here is an important question- how could a diverse, democratic and pluralist country like India have a blasphemy law, even if it is under the guise of hate speech? 

Section 295 (A) of Indian Penal Code states, “Whoever, with the deliberate and malicious intention of outraging the religious feelings of any class of [citizens of India], [by words, either spoken or written, or by signs or by visible representations or otherwise], insults or attempts to insult the religion or the religious beliefs of that class, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to [three years], or with fine, or with both.” The word ‘deliberate’ and ‘malicious’ are most important for anything to be considered as a Blasphemous act. But how did this law come into our Penal Code in the very first place?

In pre-independent India, when communal riots were spreading across India, a pamphlet of a book titled as Rangila Rasool (Pervert Prophet) concerning the marriages of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) was circulated by Mahashay Rajpal in 1926. This hurt the sentiments of the Muslim community thus rising tensions and taking the matter to the court. India being ruled under the British Government acquitted him because of lack of any substantive laws against the offence. However, Rajpal was murdered after a few years. All this communal chaos led the British Government to add Section 295(A) to Indian Penal Code in 1929. Even after years of partition, this law still exists in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

The supporters of Blasphemy law argue that nothing can be absolute and there have to be reasonable restrictions on the individual’s right to free speech and expression. The recent incident in Bangalore that eventually turned into riots because of a communally defamatory tweet points out when two ambiguous and contrasting laws i.e. Blasphemy law and Right to Freedom of Speech and Expression strike against each other, the result can be disastrous. Some “reasonable restrictions” can be justified by an argument of maintaining communal harmony in the country. In Ram Lal Modi Vs State of Uttar Pradesh case that challenged the constitutional validity of law arguing that Art. 19(2) only put reasonable restrictions but section 295 A casts its net much wider by criminalizing all speech that was intended to outrage religious feeling. A five-judge bench of the Supreme Court refused to make any amendments observing that it did not cover all type of insults but only intentional ones.

The advocates against Blasphemy law point out the diverse perspectives and subjective nature of the religion. What might be religious for me, might turn out to be offensive for someone else – this is how varied Indian society is. They argue that the state should not interfere in such personal matters as that contradicts with the idea of India being a secular state. The complex and intricate nature of Indian society where there are various religions and sects (including monotheistic and polytheistic ones) also presents an unfair and unjust scenario for examining the offence of blasphemy. 

The Blasphemy laws also come in the debate of free speech and the concept of “reasonable restrictions”. Some argue that when Article 19 (2) talks about restrictions on free speech then why is there is a special need for Section 298 (A) in the Indian Penal Code? The rationalists and reformists talk about how these laws hinder one’s scientific temperament and do not allow the space to question ill-evils and discriminatory practices in religion. The emphasis on the ‘intention’ on the act in Section 298 (A) does not hold much ground as it is complicated and vague in nature. In a country where laws like defamation and sedition are already being used to curb the dissenting voices, the ambiguous nature of Blasphemy law can be manipulated to further the agenda of state-sponsored witch-hunting.

One may agree that freedom shouldn’t be unlimited but saying that it should be restricted based on how someone’s intangible emotions or feelings are hurt is problematic and difficult to interpret. Section 295 (A) can be interpreted as hate speech act but the ambiguity and vagueness could lead to situations like those existing in our neighbouring states. We already have many laws that can be used against any sort of hate speech- Section 153(a) being one of them. The presence of Blasphemy laws only attacks the democratic and secular nature of Indian society. Summing up in the words of Romila Thapar, “There isn’t a quick way to measure if the sentiments of a particular religious community as a whole are hurt, or only of few people who were unable to accept dissent. People who become vocal, get to censor other’s freedom in the name of an attack on religious sentiments and those who don’t, simply ignore it.”

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