{"id":228728,"date":"2023-02-25T20:37:00","date_gmt":"2023-02-25T15:07:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=228728"},"modified":"2023-02-25T20:37:00","modified_gmt":"2023-02-25T15:07:00","slug":"section-153a-its-use-and-misuse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/section-153a-its-use-and-misuse\/","title":{"rendered":"Section 153A: its use and misuse"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Source<\/strong>– The post is based on the article \u201cSection 153A: its use and misuse\u201d <\/strong>published in The Indian Express <\/strong>on 25th February 2023<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Syllabus: <\/strong>GS2- Polity<\/p>\n

Relevance:<\/strong> Issues related to freedom of speech and expression<\/p>\n

News- <\/strong>Recently, AICC spokesperson Pawan Khera was arrested by Assam Police for alleged hate speech by him.<\/p>\n

What are some facts related to Section 153A and Section 505?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Section 153A<\/strong> of the Indian Penal Code penalises \u201cpromoting enmity between different groups <\/strong>on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony\u201d<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

This is punishable with imprisonment up to three years, or with fine, or both<\/strong>. The provision was enacted in 1898 and was not in the original penal code.<\/p>\n

Section 505<\/strong> penalises statements conducing to public mischief<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

In 1969, the offence was widely amended to enlarge its scope to prevent communal tensions. The offence was also made cognisable.<\/p>\n

How have these laws been applied by various governments?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Hate speech laws have been invoked by governments to crack down on criticism of public functionaries and to arrest individuals.<\/p>\n

In May last year, Marathi actor Ketaki Chitale was arrested for a Facebook<\/a> post allegedly defaming NCP leader Sharad Pawar.<\/p>\n

Data from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) <\/strong>show that the rate of conviction for Section 153A is very low.<\/p>\n

In 2020, 1,804 cases were registered. However, the conviction rate<\/strong> in 2020 was 20.2%. It suggests that the process often becomes the punishment.<\/p>\n

What are safeguards available against misuse of these laws?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

There are safeguards against its misuse. Sections 153A and 153B require prior sanction from the government<\/strong> for initiating prosecution. But this is required before the trial begins, and not at the stage of preliminary investigation.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Supreme Court laid down a set of guidelines in the Arnesh Kumar v State of Bihar, 2014 <\/strong>case. The police cannot automatically arrest an accused before investigation for offences that carry a sentence of less than seven years.<\/p>\n

In a 2021 ruling, the SC said that the state will have to prove intent for securing a conviction <\/strong>under Section 153A. The SC in this case quashed an FIR against the editor of The Shillong Times, Patricia Mukhim.<\/p>\n

As per SC, Words used in the alleged criminal speech should be judged from the standards of reasonable, strong-minded, firm and courageous men <\/strong>and not those of weak minds.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Source– The post is based on the article \u201cSection 153A: its use and misuse\u201d published in The Indian Express on 25th February 2023. Syllabus: GS2- Polity Relevance: Issues related to freedom of speech and expression News- Recently, AICC spokesperson Pawan Khera was arrested by Assam Police for alleged hate speech by him. What are some… Continue reading Section 153A: its use and misuse<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10320,"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":[212,10500],"class_list":["post-228728","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-pm-daily-articles","category-public","tag-gs-paper-2","tag-indian-express","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228728","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\/10320"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=228728"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228728\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=228728"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=228728"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=228728"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}