Section 295A of the Indian Penal Code


Section 295A of the Indian Penal Code lays down the punishment for the deliberate and malicious acts, that are intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs. It is one of the Hate speech laws in India. This law prohibits blasphemy against all religions in India.
Section 295A is a cognisable, non-bailable, and non-compoundable offence. Legal experts consider Section 295A a controversial provision. They believe that there are good legal arguments for the court to revisit and consider overruling the constitution bench judgement in Ramji Lal Modi v. State of UP.

History

Section 295 of the Indian Penal Code was enacted in 1927 by the British Parliament.
A book, Rangila Rasul, was published in 1924. The book concerned the marriages and sex life of Muhammad. On the basis of a complaint, the publisher was arrested but later acquitted in April 1929 because there was no law against insult to religion. The publisher was murdered in Court by Ilm-ud-din. As a result, Ilm-ud-din was honored with the honorifics 'Ghazi' and 'Shaheed'. As the book did not cause enmity or hatred between different religious communities, it didn't violate Section 153. The Indian Muslim community demanded a law against insult to religious feelings. Hence, the British Government enacted Section 295. The Select Committee before enactment of the law, stated in its report that the purpose was to punish persons who indulge in wanton vilification or attacks upon other religions or their religious figures. It however added that a writer might insult a religion to facilitate social reform by grabbing attention. Therefore, it recommended that the words with deliberate and malicious intention be inserted in the Section.

Text

Notable cases