India: Muslim body welcomes government’s move to crack down on hatemongers, blasphemy

Members of the Hazrat Khwaja Gharib Nawaz Welfare Association, during a press conference held in Hyderabad on Friday, October 7th, demanded anti-blasphemy laws.

These laws will apply to everyone, not only Muslims, to ensure that no religion is insulted, they said.

Anti-blasphemy law prohibits blasphemy, which is insulting or showing contempt or lack of reverence to a deity or sacred objects.

Section 295A of the Indian Penal Code punishes “deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious emotions of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs” with up to three years in prison, a fine, or both. Essentially, it is India’s blasphemy law.

Speaking to the media at Hyderabad’s Media Plus Auditorium, association secretary Mohammed Yusuf Ansari said “a stringent anti-blasphemy law will deter motor mouths who do not think before denigrating any religion.”