As a home to numerous religious and ethnic groups, India has a number of laws against
hate speech that fall under the “reasonable restrictions” to freedom of expression
permitted in the Indian Constitution. Specifically, Sections 124A, 153A, 153B, 292,
293, and 295A of the Indian Penal Code prohibit any words or representations that insult
any individual’s or group’s religious beliefs, or that are meant to incite enmity against a
particular religion. The punishment for hate speech is a fine, imprisonment for up to three
years, or both. Members of all of India’s faith groups can and do utilize anti-hate speech
legislation when their religious sensibilities are hurt. Recent arrests include newspaper
editors for articles criticizing the public nudity of certain Jain monks and arguing for
the right to critique any religion, the latter of which angered Muslims; unprosecuted
complaints have been filed by Buddhists against an actress who posed nude against a
Buddha statue, and by Hindus against an athlete who ate beef during a cricket match.
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