vera_k wrote:[
This is not possible in India or by Indian citizens because of the current legal framework restricting free speech. Whether something is a fact or not is besides the point, long as it disturbs public order or gives offence to some group. .
Very true-- and consider what it means for our claims to be a democracy (or for that matter, a dharmic nation). Facts be damned, only "offended sentiments" matter. Satyameva Jayate indeed!
I say again: REMOVE 295A.
Someone asked: why do Hindus not file FIRs against Tasleem Rehmani, Atiq-ur-Rehman, and others for insulting Hindu Gods and Goddesses under 295A?
Someone else replied: it's because we don't have the ecosystem to make sure FIRs translate into chargesheets.
But it's about MUCH more than the ecosystem. It is about some fundamental truths of our society.
Let's say a Hindu files a 295A FIR against Tasleem Rehmani.
1) Tasleem Rehmani is a terrorist involved with SIMI, PFI, etc. He has dozens of charges pending against him for much worse than 295A, and he has a full-time battery of lawyers funded by international sources to make sure he never answers for them. You think he cares?
2) In any case, let's say your 295A FIR does not result in a chargesheet being issued by the police. What will you do? You will vent on Social Media, Bharat Rakshak etc for 2-3 weeks. You will inwardly regret the waste of your time which could have been used for career or family purposes. And that's it.
So net result-- there is
no incentive for the state, the judiciary, the law & order machinery to effectively prosecute a 295A FIR registered by a Hindu against a Shantidoot (for offensive speech against Hindu gods).
Conversely, what happens when a Shantidoot files a 295A FIR against a Hindu?
1) The Shantidoot's 295A FIR will of course be backed by the full efforts of an ecosystem to ensure that the case gets pre-judged in the court of public opinion. There will be a massive propaganda and gaslighting campaign showing how this is only one instance of discrimination against Shantidoots, etc. So a certain amount of political and judicial pressure will be created this way.
2) But that's not all. Suppose the Court finds that the 295A FIR and Chargesheet filed against a Hindu for "blaspheming against Islam" are invalid. THEN what?
You know what. You are seeing it on the streets today. The threat of public physical violence on a mass scale has been used by Shantidoots (at least since the 1921 Mapilla riots) to blackmail the "official" system on a regular basis. The official system (police, judiciary, netas) better do what the Shantidoots want, otherwise they will disrupt life, limb, property, law & order, and economic activity.
And on top of that-- even if the Hindu accused under 295A is convicted and sent to jail (like Kamlesh Tiwari for example), then after the sentence imposed on him by the law of the land, the Shantidoots will find him and kill him. That will also happen. The parallel justice of Sharia will also be enacted, because it is divinely superior to the law of the land.
Now if 295A is removed, what happens?
FOE becomes paramount.
Note that you cannot have a Uniform Civil Code unless this is done. UCC means that the same laws apply to everybody-- not that my words give you offense and your words give me offense, but only your offense matters. Any attempt to curb FOE becomes, by itself, a clear and present crime. When 295A is present, the leftists will interpret public violence by Shantidoots as a "legitimate protest against inadequate government protection of their religious sentiments." But what if 295A is removed and there is no question of protecting ANYBODY's religious sentiments, at the expense of FOE?
Big picture: there are two ways out of the current situation.
1)
Hindus should act like Shantidoots. We should also go out looting, burning, mass-murdering when a court decision does not go our way. We should force state and central governments, as well as courts, to do our will by blackmailing the welfare of all Indians.
This may "feel good" to some people but almost every Hindu understands this is a self goal in the long run. If we compete with the Shantidoots to disrupt law and order and throttle economic activity, India as a nation suffers. And India is the ONLY nation for Hindus.
2)
Press for the repeal of 295A. And for the absolute paramount liberty of FOE in all cases except direct incitement to violence.
I personally do not care at all what any Shantidoot says about our Gods and Goddesses, our Vedas or Gita or anything else. Caring about such things is a defining quality of the Abrahamics, their desperate insecurities, their petty and jealous little "God". Of course if Shantidoots attempt to physically block Hindu worship, processions or anything else with violence, that is a matter much different from 295A, and the law should punish them with full force. But simple statements about our dharma from adharmic people make no difference at all.
But I want to be able to speak truthfully and openly about the religions of the Abrahamics. And I do not want any law or FIR involved in curbing my ability to speak about this.
Understand this: our dharma is inherently, fully, morally superior to the adharma of the Abrahamics. If you want dharma to prevail in India and Abrahamism to lose-- then the freedom to openly criticize the adharma of Abrahamics is a MUST. Public and honest debate is a MUST. Look at the West-- young Muslims are leaving Islam in droves, Christian churches are losing followers every year, simply because factual and honest criticism of Islam and Christianity is not prohibited in public. The cost of repealing 295A will be that Shantidoots and Missionary EJs have the legal freedom to speak insulting things about our dharma. I say let them do it. They are wrong, and if the field of debate is level and balanced, we can counter them and prove them wrong, every single time.
295A is the biggest legal obstacle to creating a level and balanced field of debate. We don't need it to protect dharma-- our traditions have survived 1000 years under far worse conditions. But THEY need it so that the fundamental adharma of Abrahamism is protected from exposure.
Neither the law, nor any blackmail of public violence, should be permitted to play any role in this AT ALL. This starts with getting rid of 295A, which is a 100% necessary step for bringing in a Uniform Civil Code.
