THE LAW OF BLASPHEMY: INDIA AND THE WORLD

ABSTRACT Blasphemy is one of the world‟s most abused law when it comes to suppressing the voices of minorities, rationalists as well as at many times scientists & often comes under a rain of questions over its legality in the present modern establishments of the world. While often it is regarded as a reasonable restriction over the freedom of speech and expression, it many a times is also regarded as a hindrance in the development of a scientific temper among people and also a methodology of imposing the religious beliefs and virtues of one community over other. In this modern world where Freedom of Speech as well as Freedom of Religion are widely considered as fundamental and human rights, India despite being a pluralist country with an incomparable diversity in its population, having a vast ocean of varied conflicting opinions has the Section 295- A in Indian Penal Code, 1860 which is a law against blasphemy under the guise of Hate speech.