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Hate crimes
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- Hate speech: The Supreme Court (SC) in 2021 quashed Hate Crime proceedings initiated against a senior journalist for a Facebook post. The SC ruled that petitioners' social media post was only an expression of truth in the face of persecution.
- Points to note: The decision came in Petitioners appeal against the Meghalaya High Court’s refusal to quash the proceedings against her under Sections 153a (hate), 500 (defamation) and 505(c) (incite a community or caste to commit an offence against another) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
- Section 153a - Promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony. It shall be punished with imprisonment which may extend to five years and shall also be liable to fine.
- Section 505c - With intent to incite, or which is likely to incite, any class or community of persons to commit any offence against any other class or community. It shall be punished with imprisonment which may extend to three years, or with fine, or with both.
- Hate crimes: These refer to criminal acts which are motivated by bias against an individual or social group because of certain differences, majorly in their religious practices and customs. In contemporary times its meaning has proliferated beyond lynching, discrimination and offensive speeches and now encompasses speech that is insulting, derogatory or incites and violence. In totality, 'Hate Crimes' could be defined as an attack on a person’s rights entrusted to him thereby affecting not only him but the social structure as a whole which in many ways makes it more heinous than many other Criminal Offences. Most common grounds of hate speech are race, ethnicity, religion or class.
- Hate crime in India: It is defined in terms of the harm done to a community at large rather than an individual’s right to freedom of speech and expression and the harm done as a result of hate speech. In India, hate speech is prohibited which is based upon religion, ethnicity, culture or race.
- Indian laws: Though the term is nowhere mentioned in any statute, its different forms are identified across the laws. The IPC under Sections 153A, 153B, 295A, 298, 505(1) and 505(2)25 declares that word, spoken or written, that promotes disharmony, hatred, or insults on basis of religion, ethnicity, culture, language, region, caste, community, race etc., is punishable under law. Some other laws which contain provisions concerning hate speech and its prevention are:
- The Representation of People Act, 1951
- Information Technology Act 2000
- Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967
- Knowledge centre:
- German hate crime law - Volksverhetzung ("incitement to hatred") is a concept in German criminal law that refers to incitement to hatred against segments of the population and refers to calls for violent or arbitrary measures against them, including assaults against the human dignity of others by insulting, maliciously maligning, or defaming segments of the population. It is often applied to, though not limited to, trials relating to Holocaust denial in Germany. The criminal code (Strafgesetzbuch) Chapter 7 (Offences against public order), Paragraph 130 (Incitement to hatred) of the Federal Republic of Germany defines when a person is guilty of Volksverhetzung.
- Global hate crime laws - In Austria, Verhetzung is a criminal offense with similar legal elements under section 283 of the Penal Code. In the UK, incitement to ethnic or racial hatred is a criminal offense under Sections 17–29 of the Public Order Act 1986. In Ireland, the corresponding law is the Prohibition of Incitement to Hatred Act. A similar law exists in Sweden as "hets mot folkgrupp" ("agitation against a population group"), second section 16th chapter 8§ of the criminal code. The Finnish criminal code includes a similar law, which calls the crime "kiihottaminen kansanryhmää vastaan" ("incitement against ethnic groups") in the Finnish version, "hets mot folkgrupp" in the Swedish version: 11th chapter ("On War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity"). The Russian Criminal Code such a law called the "incitement of ethnic hatred", which refers to actions aimed at inciting ethnic or racial hatred (Article 282 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). Article 29 of the Constitution states that: Propaganda or campaigning inciting social, racial, national or religious hatred or enmity. The propaganda of social, racial, national, religious or linguistic superiority.
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