Hate speech
The stubbornness to stick to a particular ideology without caring for the right to co-exist peacefully adds further fuel to the fire of hate speech.Individuals believe in stereotypes that are ingrained in their minds and these stereotypes lead them to believe that a class or group of persons are inferior to them and as such cannot have the same rights as them.Free speech is necessary to promote a plurality of opinions where hate speech becomes an exception to Article 19(1) (a) (Freedom of Speech and Expression).One of the greatest challenges is not to exercise the principle of autonomy and free speech principles that are detrimental to any section of society.In order to determine whether a particular instance of speech is a hate speech or not, the context of the speech plays an important role.In the 267 th Report of the Law Commission of India, hate speech is stated as an incitement to hatred primarily against a group of persons defined in terms of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief and the like.
HATE SPEECH MANUAL
The Bureau of Police Research and Development recently published a manual for investigating agencies on cyber harassment cases that defined hate speech as a language that denigrates, insults, threatens or targets an individual based on their identity and other traits (such as sexual orientation or disability or religion etc.).This speech may or may not have meaning, but is likely to result in violence. In general, it refers to words whose intent is to create hatred towards a particular group, that group may be a community, religion or race.Recently, an FIR was filed against a leader in Uttarakhand for promoting enmity amongst different sections of the society. Union of India.įor Mains: About Hate Speech, Reasons of increasing hate speech in the Indian Society and steps that can be taken to tackle these kinds of issues.
For Prelims: Sections 505(1) and 505(2), Article 19(1) (a), Representation of People’s Act, 1951 (RPA), Shreya Singhal v.