Amid protests by BJP legislators over an apparent slight to MLAs from the coastal Karnataka region, the Congress government passed The Karnataka Hate Speech and Hate Crimes (Prevention) Bill, 2025, in the Legislative Assembly in Belagavi Thursday.
The Bill was taken up for discussion in the first half of the day’s proceedings, with Home Minister G Parameshwara piloting the controversial legislation, which the BJP opposes. It aims to “curb and prevent dissemination, publication or promotion of hate speech and crimes, which cause disharmony, hatred in the society, against the person or group of persons, organisations”, to provide punishment to the perpetrators and compensation to the injured victims.
It provides the government with the authority to remove hate crime material from various media portals where it was posted. It defines ‘hate speech’ as any public expression — verbal, written, visual, or electronic, which is intended to incite enmity, hatred, or ill-will against individuals or groups based on prejudicial interests such as religion, caste, gender, sexual orientation, language, or disability. Hate crimes are broadly defined to include acts of incitement, propagation, or abetment of hate speech.
Offenders, as per the Bill, may face imprisonment ranging from one to seven years and a fine of Rs 5,000, while repeat offenders, apart from a jail term, could face fines up to Rs 1 lakh.
‘Hate speech causes murders, clashes between communities’
Referring to a Supreme Court discussion, the minister said that the apex court in a decision pronounced in May this year had advised that attempts to spread communal hatred should be dealt with an iron hand.
“The impact of hate speech (is that it) has resulted in murders and clashes between communities. The health of the society is affected due to this,” he said, noting that the legislation aimed to uphold the Constitutional ideals by preventing prejudicial treatment based on religion, race, caste, gender, language and others.
Defending the necessity of the Bill, Parameshwara said that it was impossible for law enforcement agencies to effect an indefinite ban on individuals making provocative speeches.
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“If we get alerts that a person’s speech is going to create tension, we will ban him. How long can we do that? Therefore, a law is required to prevent that,” he said, adding that murders or violent attacks often followed such speeches targeting particular communities or groups.
Violation of freedom of expression, says BJP
Leader of Opposition R Ashok, participating in the discussion, argued that the provisions of the legislation would turn the police into ‘Hitler’ and would violate Article 19(1) of the Constitution, which guaranteed freedom of expression to individuals.
“This is a weapon for political vendetta. Ultimately, (the Bill) is part of votebank politics. To please some people, someone will be sent to jail,” he said, contending that the Bill will affect journalists and opposition parties in equal measure.
“It will be a weapon for the ruling government,” Ashok said, accusing the Congress government of attacking freedom of expression in Karnataka.
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There are enough provisions in Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) to prevent provocative speeches, Ashok said. The discussion took a temporary detour with both treasury and opposition benches involved in a short-lived discussion on Dr B R Ambedkar, with several BJP legislators taking a dig at the Congress.
Chaos in Assembly
Minister for Urban Development and Town Planning Byrati Suresh apparently mocked legislators from coastal Karnataka for standing up and talking about every issue. After setting fire to the coasts, why are you spewing fire here,” he said, attacking BJP legislator Vedavyas Kamath, who represents Mangalore City South constituency in coastal Karnataka.
This irked BJP legislators from the coastal region, who rose from their seats to protest the remarks, even as senior BJP MLA Sunil Kumar urged Speaker U T Khader to strike it off the records. A heated exchange followed, resulting in a din in the Assembly. Subsequently, BJP legislators from coastal Karnataka, along with a few others, stormed into the well of the House, demanding an apology from the minister.
Amid the chaos in the Assembly, the Bill was passed and the Assembly was adjourned for lunch soon after. This also prompted a disagreement among a section of BJP legislators, who took offence at MLAs from coastal Karnataka entering the well of the House, saying it had prevented the opposition benches from raising several concerns about the controversial Bill. Senior BJP leaders, meanwhile, stepped in to prevent the tension situation from escalating.
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Another Bill taken up during the day, The Karnataka Social Boycott (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Bill, 2025, meanwhile, was passed unanimously.
An amendment recommended by Congress MLA T B Jayachandra was also introduced to the Bill, which empowered the police in registering a suo motu complaint if anyone faced social boycott as defined in the proposed legislation.