Hyderabad: A day after Telangana chief minister Revanth Reddy announced legislation to curb hate speech in Telangana, state Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president N Ramachander Rao accused the former of making anti-sanatan remarks.
Rao alleged that by introducing such a bill, the government wants to harass the saffron party. “We will oppose any such move in the Assembly,” he said.
The previous night, while attending Christmas celebrations in Hyderabad, the chief minister announced the government would introduce a new bill aimed at curbing religious hate speech. “We will soon bring in legislation on hate speech in the Assembly. Telangana government would ensure the liberty to follow one’s religion and equal rights for every religion, by bringing that legislation in the budget session (of Assembly),” he said.
He said that existing laws would be amended to ensure stringent punishment for the offenders who abuse other religions.
Karnataka passes Hate Speech Bill
The Karnataka government recently passed the Hate Speech and Hate Crimes (Prevention) Bill, the first such law in India.
The bill allows the police to register a non-bailable case immediately and has provisions for a jail term of one to seven years, and a fine of Rs 50,000 in case of first-time offenders.
For repeated offenders, the punishment will be between two and 10 years in prison, and a penalty of Rs. 1 lakh.
It received harsh criticism from the BJP, with Leader of the Opposition R Ashoka terming the Bill as “Hitlerian,” saying it infringes on freedom of expression.
