Observing that hate speech is damaging the social harmony of India and political parties are making capital out of it, the Supreme Court said strict action must be taken against the guilty.
A bench of Justices K M Joseph and Hrishikesh Roy said that the Centre should not be a “mute witness” and instead take a lead in handling the problem. The government should also not treat it as a “trivial matter”, hinting it would fill up the legal vacuum by passing orders and framing guidelines on the lines of what the apex court did earlier in Vishaka case for dealing with sexual exploitation at workplace.
The bench was particularly miffed with TV channels and their anchors for using the platform and allowing others to indulge in spreading hate in their programmes, and said those indulging in such acts should be dealt with sternly and taken off air to send a message to others not to use hate for TRP. It said people must understand that no religion preaches hatred, everybody belonged to the country and there was no place of hatred.
Under the existing law, hate speech has not been defined, nor is there any specific provision to curb it, with police taking recourse to Sections 153(A) and 295, which deal with incitement and spread of disaffection among communities, to tackle it.
The Law Commission had recommended inserting Section 153 C in the Indian Penal Code, which would say that whoever on grounds of religion, race, caste or community, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, place of birth, residence, language, disability or tribe uses gravely threatening words - either spoken or written - or advocates hatred shall be punishable with imprisonment of up to two years and fine of up to Rs 5,000.
