Hyderabad: Telangana chief minister Revanth Reddy on Saturday, December 20, announced that the state government will introduce a new bill in the Assembly aimed at curbing religious hate speech.
He said that existing laws would be amended to ensure stringent punishment for the offenders who abuse other religions.
Participating in the Christmas celebrations at LB Stadium on Saturday, December 20, Revanth Reddy emphasised that people should respect other religions while practising their own faith.
“We will soon bring in legislation on hate speech in the Assembly. Telangana government would ensure the liberty to follow one’s religion and equal rights for every religion, by bringing that legislation in the budget session (of Assembly),” he said.
“We are here to protect your rights. If your rights are hurt anywhere, our government is ready to correct it,” the chief minister said.
Observing that the government does not have lands abutting villages to allocate them for burial grounds, he said the government would provide its lands a bit away from villages for the purpose.
He urged the Christians to arrange vehicles to take the dead bodies where the burial grounds.
It is the government’s responsibility to allocate lands for burial grounds when it is providing housing as a welfare measure, he said.
The government would take steps to allocate lands for graveyards for Christians and Muslims, though they may be a little far from villages or towns, he said.
He wished that Telangana should become number one in the country, with the ‘TelanganaRising’ model being followed by the state government.
Karnataka’s Hate Speech Bill
Two days earlier, the Karnataka Assembly passed the much-contested Hate Speech and Hate Crimes (Prevention) Bill, the first such law in India.
The bill received harsh criticism from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its National Democratic Alliance (NDA) partners, with Leader of the Opposition R Ashoka terming the Bill as “Hitlerian,” saying it infringes on freedom of expression.
The Karnataka government asserted that the legislation is necessary to curb the “rising spread, publication and promotion of hate speech and crimes that create a communally charged or disharmonious atmosphere.”
The bill allows the police to register a non-bailable case immediately and has provisions for a jail term of one to seven years, and a fine of Rs 50,000 in case of first-time offenders.
For repeated offenders, the punishment will be between two and 10 years in prison, and a penalty of Rs. 1 lakh.
(With PTI inputs)
