India’s Blasphemy Law: Section 295A of IPC

Narendra Nayak

Section 295A. Deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings or any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs

[295A. Deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings or any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs.— Whoever, with deliberate and malicious intention of outraging the religious feelings of any class of [citizens of India], [by words, either spoken or written, or by signs or by visible representations or otherwise], insults or attempts to insult the religion or the religious beliefs of that class, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to [three years], or with fine, or with both.]

This section of the IPC pertains to insulting religions and religious beliefs. Made by our colonial masters to divide and subjugate their vassals, like many other provisions of the archaic laws made by them, this section too has been carried over into our laws and is being used now mainly to persecute and hound people who may have points of view contrary to those of the powers that be. The rationalist movement and other progressive forces have been mostly at the receiving end of persecutions under this but the others have been no exception. The word 'persecution' has been deliberately used here as most of the cases booked under this section have resulted in acquittals of the accused and all they have had as punishment is the period of the 'due process of law' which can take several years to couple of decades to complete.

Sanal Edamaruku

The recent one in this issue is the attempt to prosecute a rationalist from Delhi, Sanal Edmaruku. He has been quite active on the TV channels denouncing superstitions and god men on them and has been a regular feature on many of them. The most recent controversy in which he has been involved is the one of a cement crucifix of Jesus Christ in Bandra, Mumbai dripping water from its feet. There were hot discussions of some TV channels about the veracity of this so called miracle and there were some hot exchange of words in between him and others leading to complaints against him under the above mentioned section 295A of the Indian Penal Code for deliberate and malicious acts leading to outrage religious feelings of any class here read as the Roman Catholic community. Again, the act does not pertain to the miracle of the dripping cross but other words used in the course of the discussions which have outraged the religious feelings of a group of people called as The Organisation of Concerned Catholics (OCC) and the Catholic Secular Forum (CSF) who had lodged complaints against Sanal at the Juhu and Andheri police stations. It was said that Sanal’s contentions that the so called 'miracle' was promoted by the church to fleece gullible people and the prefix used for the head of the Roman Catholic church by calling him Mr. Pope had angered these Catholics who chose to file this complaint. It was in the newspapers that the Mumbai have summoned Mr. Edamaruku for questioning on this complaint. A committee to defend him under the leadership of the eminent Supreme court lawyer Mr.N.D,.Pancholi has been formed and funds are being collected from all over the world for his defense.

Karantikar (left) with Telugu Revolutionary Folk Singer Gaddar

It is not the first time that this section is being used or that Sanal Edamaruku is the first one to be hauled up under this. A couple of years back Krantikar, State President of Andra Pradesh Rationalist Association and Executive Committee Member of Federation of Indian Rationalist Associations had been hauled up under the same sections and had been in prison for quite some time as he had refused to apply for bail. His crime - he had translated some write ups of Taslima Nasreen which had been published more than decade back and were available to the world at large on the web into Telugu and had published that in book form, which had again angered the local fundamentalist Muslims who were after his blood. The ruling congress party in the state had brought all these sections upon him to please their so called 'minority vote bank'! The way it was done it was pretty obvious that the case would be thrown out by the court but the 'persecution' part of it was more important for the govt.!

Just at the time of the Sanal case hitting the headlines a student of Hyderabad, Kartik had been arrested on the same grounds for reacting that there is no god to someone who had greeted him on Hanuman Jayanthi day. He had been arrested and was in police custody for having expressed his convictions and exercising his constitutional right! Again, the same law was used by a right wing student organisation to target a member of a rival organisation. The saffron gangs are experts in using this law to harass those who do not see eye to eye with them. In fact, they used it to file complaints against those who organised and participated in a 'beef festival' on the campus of Osmania University recently. Though one's dietary habits are one's personal business, one mans food can be another one's religious sentiment! So, people could file complaints under section 295A for eating beef (Hindu religious sentiments), Pork (Muslim religious sentiments), any non vegetarian food (Jain religious sentiments) and so on ad infinitum! It could be also argued that even the menus of hotels are publications which are deliberately and maliciously composed to hurt them and so on.

Like many of the archaic laws made by our colonial masters have been relegated to the dust bin in their country, this law too deserves the same fate. In fact it has been advised by them that we should do so! Yet, we choose to have these which are an affront to the very concept of human rights. If a person has the right to propagate one's religion we should also have the right to question the same. All the religions thrive by striking the fear of the unknown into the minds of people and by spreading superstitious beliefs and questioning any of them would be construed as hurting the religious sentiments and cases filed under section 295A! If those who do so are members of a movement like ours then it could be added that the intent was 'malicious and deliberate'!

I can recall some instances from the past when we have been threatened with this. About a decade ago, I had made a public statement about cows urine being the urine of animal like any other- for instance a dog! At that time a campaign was started by the peddlers of the concoctions containing cow’s urine that it was an attack on the religious sentiments and I should be booked under this section. A big debate went on for weeks and finally a legal luminary concluded it by saying that though I deserved to be punished under that it could not be done as I was born in a Hindu family! If I were to be born in a family professing some other religion then I could have been prosecuted! He also added that criticism and reform was a salient feature of Hinduism! So, the whole controversy died a natural death. We have been threatened with the same when we questioned faith healers of Christianity- the excuse was that they were just conducting prayer meetings! The same was threatened when we exposed one Aslam Baba who was supposedly conducting surgical operations with tailor’s scissors! A couple of years ago when we had tried to investigate Mary's flex prints shedding tears we had to struggle very hard to keep out any such allegations of 'hurting religious sentiments' !

Does this law have a role in our society? Well let us take a look at article 51 A H of the constitution of India which deals with the duties of the citizen it states that-51A. Fundamental duties It shall be the duty of every citizen of India (h)to develop the scientific temper, humanism and the spirit of inquiry and reform. With a constitution which states this and with a section of the IPC which is contrary it is the article of the constitution which should prevail.

Hulikkal Nataraj

This has been also stated in the Hulikal Nataraj vs Govt of Karnataka judgment of the Karnataka High court. In this case a case was filed against him for making a statement at a placed called Madikeri in Kodagu district of Karnataka. He had stated in a public lecture that the so called miracle at Sabarimala at the Aiyappa temple area was man made. It was about a flame called as Makara vilakku from a hill called as Ponnambala Medu which was opposite the temple. The locals who wanted to hound him and harass him had filed a complaint with the local police station and the station house officer had straightaway filed an FIR and a charge sheet and tried to arrest Nataraj who had gone to the High Court for quashing the case. After a couple of years the judgment came as an indictment of the whole system. In fact the judge called the Home secretary to the court and also withheld the increment of the Sub Inspector who had attempted to arrest Nataraj.

A couple of years back when we had tried to investigate the phenomenon of flex prints of Mary shedding ‘tears’ at the church in Aluva, Kerala there were attempts to convert that too as clash between various sections and to convert it into a outraging religious sentiments issue as in the case of Sanal mentioned above. But, we were very careful in our approach that nothing much could be done.

Such laws like section 295 A of the Indian Penal Code have no place in a civilized society and need to be consigned with many of such to the trash bins of history. Finally after mulling over the legal issues and the secular aspects of the law, a philosophical question needs to be addressed- why does an omnipotent deity need the services of a mundane law made by puny human beings to set right alleged infractions of divine laws made by a higher force? This is for the religious whose feelings are ‘offended’ to answer! 

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A Landmark Judgement

Ramesh Nagaragere        

This commentary on the Judgement delivered by the High Court of Karnataka was published in the October 2010 issue of Indian Skeptic, an ezine now defunct. We upload the essay as the judgement continues to be relevant to the rationalist movement in India.

There have been occasions when Indian judiciary has surprised, shocked and disappointed people who expected it to pass verdicts which would take the society forward. One well known case in point is the judgement given out by the Rajasthan high court against Bhanvari Devi in 1994 saying that those who had been accused of raping her were from the upper castes and hence could not have done such a heinous deed and acquitted all of them.

High Court of Karnataka

But now and then we come across some silver linings creating some hope in us about the efficacy and forward looking nature of the judges. I refer to the judgement announced by Justice H N Nagamohan Das of the High Court of Karnataka on 13th September, 2010. At one stroke he quashed the non bailable warrant issued by a lower court against Mr Hulikal Nataraj for 'hurting the Hindu sentiments' by criticizing and talking against some dearly held beliefs of many Hindus. This is surely a land mark judgement since it belongs to that group of decisions of learned judges like Justice VR Krishna Iyer. This emboldens and strengthens the hands of those who have been fighting against obscurantism and superstition which are still respected in this society since they are our 'tradition'.

Now, for the details of the case. Mr Nataraj teaches at Swami Vivekananda Higher Primary School, Doddaballapur some 35 kms away from Bangalore, He is well known for his acts of exposing the miracles, a programme popularised in Karnataka and in many other parts of India by Dr Narendra Naik. On 26th February at one such programme at Madikeri in Coorg district of Karnataka, he is said to have explained the dubious nature of Makara Vilakku and the case of an eagle going round the Garuda Stambha at Ayyappa temple of Shabarimala. (It could me be mentioned here that some time ago, one of the trustees of Ayyappa temple admitted that the so-called divine JYOTHI WAS ONLY A HUMAN CREATION.) He is also said to have called the so called theerthobhava at Bhagamandala, the sudden springing up of water in the river Kaveri as ‘false’. The next day, on 27th February a complaint was lodged against him by one Chethan, an activist   of Bhajarangadal of Madikeri with the police of the town. The charge was that Mr. Nataraj, by calling these phenomena false had hurt Hindu sentiments. The police registered a case against him, filed it in the court of the magistrate at Madikeri and a non-bailable warrant was issued against the accused. This act on the part of the police and the court at Madikeri did cause some furore at that time and was forgotten later.

Karnataka was reminded of this case again on 13th September, 2010 when the press reported that the case against Mr Natara was quashesd by the High Court judge Justice H N Nagamohan Das.  Mr.  Nataraj had challenged the order of the Madikeri court in the High Court of Karnataka and his case was argued by the well known Advocate Prof Ravi Varma Kumar and his assistant Mr Irshad Ahmad.

Especially noteworthy is the extent of intellectual efforts put forth by the Judge to build up a case for acquitting Mr Nataraj. The text of the judgement reads like a treatise on rationalism and scientific temper. The constitutional obligation of every citizen of India to uphold and promote scientific temper and a spirit of enquiry without which no society can ever dream of moving in the direction of progress is also mentioned to support his decision.  The most surprising thing is that the importance of Section 51 A(h) of Indian Constitution which addressed this issue was lost on the  police officer  as well as the judge at Madikeri.

Hulikkal Nataraj

Justice Nagamohan Das divides the text into five parts of which three are devoted to a delineation of the issue at hand, Under titles such as FREEDOM OF SPEECH, SUPERSTITIONS, and FUNDAMENTAL DUTIES,  he traces the growth of the spirit of inquiry among humans every where. The very first sentence, almost axiomatic, sets out the direction and tone the whole text was to follow: 'UNFREEDOM is the result of oppression and freedom is the outcome of liberation'. The learned judge cites various verdicts of the English, American and Indian seats of justice in this regard in support of his arguement. The words of Justice Frankfurter in the case DENNIS   Vs. UNITED STATES (34 US 494(1951) are very much relevant in the present context when we are still plagued by those swearing in the name of cultural nationalism and superstitions calling them parts of a glorious tradition, '....the liberty of man to search for truth ought not to be fettered, no matter what orthodoxies may challenge. Liberty of thought soon shrivels without freedom of expression '.

The judge also quotes extensively thinkers like Buddha, Basaveswara, Nehru and Dr Radhakrishnan to uphold the importance of being open minded. He rightly notes that scientific temper takes one beyond Science and 'creates a conducive atmosphere to eradicate class discrimination, slavery, bonded labour, untouchability, gender discrimination and racial discrimination'.  He also points out that when a citizen is threatened for discharging his fundamental duty of promoting scientific temper he/she can approach the court for a direction to the government to protect him/her from any harm.

The text of the judgement reveals how the complainant from Bhajarangdal and the police officer have bungled in their interpretation of the words 'wounding the religious feelings’ of Hindus. Similarly it also notes that the judicial officer at Madikeri has gone about the case in a 'mechanical manner'.  Finally on the basis of all these findings, all grounded on rationalism, progressive thinking and commitment to the spirit of the Indian Constitution, the learned judge quashes the order of the lower court and discharges Mr Nataraj of all charges.

With a judgement of this importance, notwithstanding some unease, Iyer and Nagamohan Das stand tall among hundreds of judicial functionaries, many of whom, unfortunately, are not very much different from the judge of the Rajastah High Court already referred to. The victory of Mr Nataraj is not merely a personal gain but it is the victory of scientific thinking and rationalism over irrationalism and of democracy over fascism.

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Karnataka High Court Judgement on Scientific Temper

 

 We upload the Judgement as it is an incisive critique of the so-called miracles and false claims.

IN THE HIGH COURT OF KARNATAKA AT BANGALORE

DATED THIS THE 13TH DAY OF SEPTEMBER, 2010

BEFORE

THE HON ’BLE MR. JUSTICE HN. NAGAMOHAN DAS

W.P.N0. 1750/2008 (GM-POLICE)

BETWEEN

HULIKAL NATARAJU

S/O LATE KALLAIAH

AGED ABOUT 46 YEARS

SHADAKSHARI KRUPA

OPP TO GOVT.URDU SCHOOL

DODDAPALLAPUR

BANGALORE RURAL DIST – 561203 …PETITIONER

(By Sri. RAVIVERMA KUMAR, SR COUNSEL

FOR. Sri. B.M.IRISHAD AHMED)

AND

1.      STATE OF KARNATAKA

REPRESENTED BY SUB INSPECTOR OF POLICE

MADIKERI TOWN POLICE STATION

MADIWKERE, KODAGU DISTRICT

2.      K.H.CHETAN

            BAIARANGADALA GHATAKA

MADIKEREI

KODAGU DESTRICT……… RESPONDENTS

(By Sri H.S.CHANDRAMOULI, SPP A/W

Sri ZAHEER AHMED, GA FOR R-1, R-2 SD/-)

THIS WRIT PETITION FILED U/A 226 & 227 OF CONSTITUTION OF INDIA PRAYING TO QUASH THE ENTIRE PROCEEDINGS IN C.C.BI,1703/2006 ON THE FILE OF THE PRL.CIVIL JUDGE (JR DN) AND JMFC, MADIKERI AND ETC.

THIS PETITION HAVING BEEN HEARD AND RESERVED FOR ORDERS, H.N.NAGAMOHAN DAS. J, PRONOUNCED THE FOLLOWING:

ORDER

In the writ petition the petitioner has prayed for a writ in the nature of certiorari to quash the proceedings in C.C.No. 1703/2006 on the file of Principal Civil Judge (Junior Division) and JMFC Madikeri and reject the complaint dated 27.02.2008 as per Annexure L and for other reliefs.

2.      Petitioner is a teacher in Swamy Vivekananda Higher Primary School at Doddaballapur in Bangalore Rural District. Petitioner travels extensively to debunk miracles and try to find and establish the scientific truth behind the miracles. An organization called Shivashakti Yuva Vedike situated at Madikeri invited the petitioner to perform a programme on miracles at Madikeri on 26.02.2006. Accordingly the petitioner conducted a programme exposing the miracles of godmen, witches and tricksters. Large number of people including local officers and elected representatives attended the programme conducted by the petitioner.

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