Panel To Define Hate Speech
Source : The Hindu
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Why in News ?

Home Ministry Panel to Define Hate Speech to make an attempt for Hate Speech. 

Key Facts

• The Committee for Reforms in Criminal Laws constituted by the Home Ministry is attempting for the first time to define such speech.
• The panel in-fact set up for suggesting reforms in the Indian Penal Code (IPC)
  • It now propose a separate section on offences relating to speech and expression.
  • Itwill attempt to define hate speech.
• There is no clear definition of what constitutes a hate speech in the IPC.
• Background
  • An extreme or harsh point of view would not amount to hate speech, the Bombay High Court quashed an FIR against a Navi Mumbai resident.
  • Supreme Court agreed to hear a plea challenging the legal validity of Section 124A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) that deals with the offence of sedition.

What is Freedom of Speech and Expression ?

• Article 19(1)(a) of Indian Constitution says that
  • All citizens have the right to freedom of speech and expression.
  • Freedom of Speech and expression means the right to express one’s own convictions and opinions freely by words of mouth, writing, printing, pictures or any other mode.
• The right to express one’s views is a protected and cherished right in democracy.

What is Hate Speech ?

• Simply put Hate Speech is considered as a reasonable restriction on freedom of speech and expression.
• The Bureau of Police Research and Development recently published a manual for investigating agencies on cyber harassment cases that defined hate speech as
  • A language that denigrates, insults, threatens or targets an individual based on their identity and other traits such as sexual orientation or disability or religion etc.
• Restriction to Free Speech
  • Article 19(2) ot the constitution
    • Provides for the reasonable restrictions against free speech in the interests of sovereignty and integrity of India, the security of the State, friendly relations with foreign States, public order, decency or morality or in relation to contempt of court, defamation or incitement to an offence.
  • Provisions in Indian Penal Code
    • Section 153A Indian Penal Code Hate speech constitutes a criminal charge which is the offence of promoting communal disharmony or feelings of hatred between different religious, racial, language or regional groups or castes or communities.
    • Section 153B of the Indian Penal Code categorises the offence of promoting religious, racist, linguistic, community or caste hatred or incites any religious, caste or any other disharmony or enmity within India, through any speech either in written form or spoken.
    • Section 298 of the IPC, similarly, classifies the offence of uttering words with the deliberate intent to wound the religious feelings of any person.
    • Section 505 of the IPC, criminalises the act of delivering speeches that incite violence.
  • The 123(3A) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 criminalises hate speech by election candidates.
• United Nations Strategy and Plan of Action on Hate Speech defines Hate Speech as
  • Hate speech is in itself an attack on tolerance, inclusion, diversity and the very essence of our human rights norms and principles. More broadly, it undermines social cohesion, erodes shared values, and can lay the foundation for violence, setting back the cause of peace, stability, sustainable development and the fulfillment of human rights for all.

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