Hate Speeches: Its Time to Draw a Line

Freedom of speech and expression are natural rights and are the very first condition of liberty. Freedom of speech and expression are the most essential feature of a truly democratic country. The freedom of speech and expression form the basis of criticism as well as intermingling of ideas and beliefs. Therefore, in the modern times freedom of speech and expression is the very basis of free society and must be safeguarded at all times. But the freedom of speech and expression must be used with vigour so that it does not hurt the emotions of any other citizen and each and every citizen should be sensitive towards the emotions of other citizens in a democratic society. It is at this juncture of time that we need to strike a line between freedom of speech and expression and the hate speeches delivered by politicians and the media houses. Even at a time when a pandemic has hit the whole world politicians are busy making hate speeches, a hate speech is any way of communication in writing, speech or behaviour that attacks or uses discriminatory language against a person or a group of people on the basis of who they are, based on their religion, ethnicity, nationality, race, colour, descent, gender or other identity factor. Thus, there is an urgent need to strengthen hate speech laws so that there is a restriction on hate speeches and also there is a need for providing awareness among the people so that they don’t fall prey to these speeches