Hate speech in India is the use of language or actions that promote

discrimination Discrimination is the act of making unjustified distinctions between people based on the groups, classes, or other categories to which they belong or are perceived to belong. People may be discriminated on the basis of race, gender, age, relig ...

, hostility, or hatred against individuals or groups based on their identities, such as religion,

caste Caste is a form of social stratification characterised by endogamy, hereditary transmission of a style of life which often includes an occupation, ritual status in a hierarchy, and customary social interaction and exclusion based on cultura ...

ethnicity An ethnic group or an ethnicity is a grouping of people who identify with each other on the basis of shared attributes that distinguish them from other groups. Those attributes can include common sets of traditions, ancestry, language, history, ...

, gender, sexual orientation, or

political affiliation A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or pol ...

. India's diverse population of over 1.3 billion people and complex social and political landscape make it vulnerable to hate speech and incitement to violence, which have become increasingly prominent in recent years.

Legal framework

India has laws, including the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the

Code of Criminal Procedure Criminal procedure is the adjudication process of the criminal law. While criminal procedure differs dramatically by jurisdiction, the process generally begins with a formal criminal charge with the person on trial either being free on bail or i ...

(CrPC), to address

hate speech Hate speech is defined by the ''Cambridge Dictionary'' as "public speech that expresses hate or encourages violence towards a person or group based on something such as race, religion, sex, or sexual orientation". Hate speech is "usually thoug ...

, but these laws are criticized for their lack of clarity and inadequate enforcement. Acts that could promote enmity between different groups on religious grounds and insult religious beliefs are prohibited by law. However, there is no legal definition of hate speech in India. The Law Commission of India recommended adding separate provisions to the IPC to criminalize hate speech in 2017, but some legal experts have raised concerns that these amendments could be misused to curtail legitimate speech and expression.

Enforcement challenges

The judiciary in India has been hesitant to impose restrictions on free speech, and

cases have not been acted upon in most instances. The police and other law enforcement agencies have also faced criticism for their inability to investigate and prosecute cases of hate speech and incitement to violence.

Impact of social media and television

Social media and television channels have contributed to the rise of hate speech in India, with politicians and public figures using these platforms to gain media attention and disseminate hate speech. Social media platforms like Facebook's Indian subsidiary,

Meta Meta (from the Greek μετά, '' meta'', meaning "after" or "beyond") is a prefix meaning "more comprehensive" or "transcending". In modern nomenclature, ''meta''- can also serve as a prefix meaning self-referential, as a field of study or ende ...

, and Twitter have also faced criticism for their content moderation practices in India.

Meta's Human Rights Impact Assessment

Meta commissioned a Human Rights Impact Assessment on India in 2019 to evaluate its role in spreading hate speech and incitement to violence. However, the report has been criticized for deflecting blame and not addressing the root causes of hate speech in India. Civil society groups argue that the report was designed to deflect criticism rather than address the problem.

References

{{reflist Freedom of speech in India Hate crimes in India Hate speech