Hate speech a criminal act, higher echelons of ruling party endorsing it: Former SC judge

Former judge of the Supreme Court, Justice Rohinton Nariman said hate speech is a criminal act and that it is being almost endorsed by the higher ranks of the ruling party.

Expressing concern over increasing incidents of hate speech, former Supreme Court judge, Justice Rohinton Nariman said it was a criminal act and suggested that Parliament should amend provisions to give minimum sentences to those guilty of it. He also said the higher echelons of the ruling party were not only silent on the issue but were almost endorsing it.

"Off late we have had in this country young persons - students, stand-up comedians and the like -- all being booked for freely criticising the government of the day under sedition laws which are really colonial in nature and have no place under our Constitution. On the other hand, you have persons giving hate speech -- calling for genocide, and we find great reluctance among some of the authorities to book these people," he said while giving a keynote address on “Constitutional Underpinnings of the Rule of Law”.