Blasphemy Laws: Comparative Analysis in Context of India and Pakistan

Blasphemy law is a law relating to the prohibition of blasphemy, which is irreverence or insult towards holy personages, religious groups, sacred artifacts, customs or beliefs. Section 295A was added in the year 1927 in Indian Penal Code to prevent hate speech that insults or attempts to insult the religion or the religious beliefs of any class of the citizens and deliberate and malicious intention to outrage their religious feelings but the main purpose of the law has been to maintain Public order in multi religious and religious sensitive society. The ant blasphemy laws in Pakistan are very strict as compare to India. Chapter XV of the Pakistan Penal Code deals with offences relating to the religion. Under section 295-c there is death penalty for blasphemy in Pakistan. The new bill proposed by the Punjab government seeks to insert a new section 295AA that stipulates that whoever causes injury, damage or sacrilege to SriGuruGranthSahib, Srimadbhagwatgeeta, Holyquran and Holy bible with the intention to hurt religious feelings of the people would be liable to awarded life imprisonment, if convicted. Mainly, such kind of blasphemy laws are kind of threat to the liberty of the individuals, because they are depriving the citizens from exercising their right of freedom of speech and expression which is given under the constitution. The human rights commission has been recording blasphemy cases in Pakistan for a long time. Their report says that around 40 percent of people booked under the blasphemy laws belong to the highly discriminated and targeted, Ahmadiyya community. The Human rights comission of Pakistan says blasphemy law continue to be misused, especially against dissidents, with cases in which mere accusations that someone committed blasphemy lead to deadly mob violence. In India too many blasphemy incidents have been reported in previous years. In 2011, the Indian ministry of communications and information technology issued new rules requiring operators of social media networks to screen and remove blasphemous content within 36 hours of receiving a complaint. Blasphemy laws are generally making restriction to the free market of thoughts or ideas. The main argument is that the state needs to use coercive power in deference to the religious sentiments, is a place of illiberal and of dangerous nonsense. So these kind of the laws are infringing the basic right of freedom speech and expression.