Source: The Times Of India
NEW DELHI: In a pronouncement that reiterates the constitutional protection to freedom of speech and expression, the Supreme Court has said that unwitting or careless “insults” to religion should not be prosecuted as this would amount to misuse of law.
Concerned by the misuse of Section 295A of IPC, which provides up to three years’ jail term for hurting religious sentiments, the Supreme Court limited the applicability of the penal provision to deliberate and malicious acts rather than casual observations that are not driven by malicious intent.
“Insults to religion offered unwittingly or carelessly or without any deliberate or malicious intention to outrage the religious feelings of that class do not come within the section,” a bench of Justices Dipak Misra, A M Khanwilkar and M M Shantanagoudar said.
The bench passed the order on a plea by cricketer M S Dhoni challenging criminal proceedings against him for hurting religious sentiments for being portrayed as “Lord Vishnu” on the cover of a business magazine in 2013 holding several things, including a shoe, in his hands.
Categories: Asia, Free Speech, India, The Muslim Times