On Wednesday, the Supreme Court dismissed a clutch of public interest litigations seeking a separate hate speech law. It said that existing criminal law is adequately deals with offences linked to public order, dignity and constitutional values.
But does it really? In this episode of our discussion series on the state of the republic, Harsh Mander discusses the question of regulating hate speech through law with Shahrukh Alam and Nizamuddin Ahmed Siddiqui.
Harsh Mander is a writer and peace activist. Shahrukh Alam is a lawyer, and Nizamuddin Ahmed Siddiqui is a researcher and co-founder of Project Mishkat.
The conversation examines the arguments for introducing legal provisions on hate speech, the challenges and limitations of such laws, and the implications of granting the state the authority to define and adjudicate harmful speech.
It also unpacks hate speech as a form of discrimination, exploring how it is articulated, circulated, and embedded in social and political life.
The name of Karwan e Mohabbat’s Yeh Daag Daag Ujala series is a tribute to the iconic poem by Faiz Ahmed Faiz.
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