7-10 yrs jail, collective punishment: Karnataka tables hate speech Bill

The Bill defines “prejudicial interest” to include bias on the grounds of religion, race, caste or community; sex, gender, sexual orientation, place of birth, residence, language, disability, or tribe. It, however, exempts “bona fide artistic creativity, performance or other form of expression,” “any academic or scientific inquiry; fair and accurate reporting or commentary”, or proselytisation.

The Bill states that hate crimes shall be punished with a mandatory minimum imprisonment of one year, which may extend to seven years, along with a fine of Rs 50,000. For subsequent or repetitive offences, the punishment shall not be less than two years, which may extend to 10 years, with a fine of Rs 100,000. The Bill clarifies that this law will “be in addition to, and not in derogation of, the provisions of any other law for the time being in force”.

Significantly, the Bill seeks to punish organisations and institutions collectively for “hate crimes.” Institutions are loosely defined as “an association of persons, whether registered or not,” under the Bill.

“If the person, committing an offence under this Act, is an Organisation or Institution, every person who, at the time of the offence committed, was in charge of, and was responsible to, such organisation or institution for the conduct of the business of the same, as well as such Organisation or Institution, shall be deemed to be guilty of the offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly,” the Bill states.

The proposed law is the first legislation to define hate speech, expanding its definition to include malicious speech against gender, sexual orientation and language.

India does not have a formal legal framework for dealing with hate speech. States invoke a cluster of provisions, loosely termed hate speech laws, that primarily deal with offences against religions. These are Section 299 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (outrage religious feelings), Section 298 (damage or defilement of a place of worship), Section 301 (trespassing in a place of sepulture), Section 302 (uttering, words, etc, with deliberate intent to wound the religious feelings of any person) and Section 300 (disturbing a religious assembly).

The Assam government has been invoking the law on sedition Section 152 of the BNS, which pertains to “acts endangering the sovereignty, unity and integrity of India”, a charge similar to “sedition” under the earlier Indian Penal Code (IPC) to target alleged “hate speech.” In the crackdown following the Pahalgam terror attack, the Assam Police had arrested at least 97 people over two months for posts and comments ranging from those that supported Pakistan and others deemed offensive to Hindus, to ones suggesting that the attack was a “conspiracy” linked to elections.

In July, the Karnataka government had floated another first-of-its-kind state legislation to deal with digital platforms and free speech. The Bill, aimed at prohibiting misinformation and fake news, empowered a committee of lawmakers to identify and label content on social media as “fake news.” However, after widespread criticism that the law raises several questions of free speech and state overreach, the Bill was not passed in the Assembly. The Bill had proposed to include “anti-feminism” and “disrespect of Sanatan symbols” under the definition of fake news and prescribed a seven-year jail term for social media users held guilty of posting “fake news” as decided by a committee headed by the state Information & Broadcasting Minister.