{"id":135811,"date":"2021-09-21T19:21:26","date_gmt":"2021-09-21T13:51:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=135811"},"modified":"2021-09-25T15:16:54","modified_gmt":"2021-09-25T09:46:54","slug":"tackling-hate-speech","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/tackling-hate-speech\/","title":{"rendered":"Tackling Hate Speech"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Synopsis:<\/strong> There are no laws on hate speech as such, so India needs a political and pedagogical solution to control the menace.<\/p>\n

Introduction<\/strong><\/h5>\n

Recently, a Bishop from Kerala in his speech coined the term Narcotic Jihad <\/strong>and criticised few members of the Muslim religion. But the speech aimed at a particular religion has a divisive tone.<\/p>\n

What does Hate Speech signify?<\/strong><\/h5>\n

Though the precise definition would be difficult, but a lot can be inferred from various rulings of the courts around the world and also from the views of the experts.<\/p>\n

In\u00a0Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire\u00a0(1942):\u00a0 <\/strong>The U.S. Supreme Court held that their Constitution does not protect \u201cinsulting or \u2018fighting\u2019 words<\/strong> \u2014 those which may incite an immediate breach of the peace<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lord Bhikhu Parekh,<\/strong> a British academic, said that hate speech views members of the target group as an enemy within. It creates hostility and breeds mistrust between individuals and groups.<\/p>\n

In Pravasi Bhalai Sangathan v. Union of India (2014) case: <\/strong>The Supreme Court quoted <\/strong>from the Canadian Supreme Court\u2019s decision in Saskatchewan v. Whatcott\u00a0<\/em>(2013).<\/strong> It held that “hate speech puts a serious barrier to the full participation of minority in our democracy<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n

What are the challenges associated with hate speech in India?<\/strong><\/h5>\n

This idea of hate speech resonates well in India\u2019s political context. Being a minority in a Hindu majoritarian nation, the other religions at times feel defenceless when hatred is directed against them. This leads to a climate of fear amongst them. It has also led to violence against them based on their identity. And even genuine concerns<\/strong> like the social and economic backwardness of the minority community are ignored<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

How India is tackling hate speech?<\/strong><\/h5>\n

There are legal protections against hate speech in India. Section 153-A of IPC<\/strong> prohibits speech promoting enmity between groups based on religion, race, place of birth etc.<\/p>\n

However, the law seems to suffer from misuse and disuse<\/strong>. While remarks against the minority are ignored, even vague references against the majority trigger the legal action and state machinery.<\/p>\n

What should be the way ahead?<\/strong><\/h5>\n

Given the challenges, a precise and accurate definition of law for hate speech is difficult. So a well-negotiated political and social solution is the best way forward.<\/p>\n

Source: <\/strong>This post is based on \u201cTackling Hate Speech<\/strong>\u201d published in The Hindu<\/strong> on 21st<\/sup> August 2021.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Synopsis: There are no laws on hate speech as such, so India needs a political and pedagogical solution to control the menace. Introduction Recently, a Bishop from Kerala in his speech coined the term Narcotic Jihad and criticised few members of the Muslim religion. But the speech aimed at a particular religion has a divisive… Continue reading Tackling Hate Speech<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5480,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1230,9],"tags":[212,7021,9237],"class_list":["post-135811","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-pm-daily-articles","category-public","tag-gs-paper-2","tag-hate-speech","tag-issues-related-to-communalism","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":{"total":4,"cached_at":"","cached_date":1698368684},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135811","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5480"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=135811"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135811\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=135811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=135811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=135811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}