Slippery Road of Blasphemy Restrict Freespeech

An object of Section 295(a) Indian Penal Code is to restraint acts that outrage religious sentiments or hurt religious feelings. This section speaks about intentional and malicious acts which deliberately and maliciously, intended to outrage reli¬gious feelings. Under IPC, 1860 it is a criminal offense to insult or try to insult religious beliefs through words, writing, signs, or any other form of visible communication. Offence is Cognizable, Non-bailable and non-compoundable. In the Lense of Article 19(1) (a) freedom of speech and expression, but the clause of the article talks about "reasonable restrictions." When we look at the constitutional aspect of Section 295A, we see that it falls under the "reasonable restriction" of the Article 19, which says that no one should use the fundamental right to freedom of speech and expression to insult or hurt the religious feelings of any group and the offence is punishable. At the same time, Intention is one of the essentials of this section and identifying malicious intention in the commission of offence is a challenging task. Article 21 of the Constitution says that freedom of speech is based on the right to speak responsibly. One of the hardest things about the autonomy and free speech principles is ensuring that this freedom is not used in a way that hurts an individual or a group of people who are already struggling. Many things concerning this provision are ambiguous and need to be examined.