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Hate speech will be a punishable crime: Vasu
National Languages and Social Integration Minister Vasudeva Nanayakkara said that the incorporation of provisions into the Penal Code that would make hate speech and other means of provoking hatred against certain communities, a punishable offence, would fill a lacuna that exists within the country’s normal law at present.
Such provisions are part of the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), but the Minister has forwarded a Cabinet paper to have offences related to religious and racial disharmony, to be incorporated into the Penal Code. “The PTA is applicable only in special circumstances, which is why I wanted this incorporated into the normal law, to deal with specified offences, to assist in maintaining peace and harmony in the country,” he said.
A final decision on whether the proposal will be adopted, was postponed, after it was taken up at the weekly Cabinet meeting on Thursday, to allow more time for observations on the matter, Minister Nanayakkara told the Sunday Times. “I met the President before I submitted this and he said to try and get everybody to agree to it. I agree with that. But we need this, as there is a lacuna in the law,” he said.
The Minister said that the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) too has recommended that such laws be enacted, to act as a deterrent against those attempting to cause religious and ethnic disharmony among the people. Minister Nanayakkara said that he does not expect a backlash from groups such as the Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) that have gained ground in recent months, to the enactment of such provisions into the normal law of the country.
“I don’t think there will be a backlash, because this refers to hate speech and such other expressions by language, writing and other signs, where you provoke hatred against certain communities and cause unrest,” he said. Under the Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Act 1979, any person who by words either spoken or intended to be read or by signs or by visible representations or otherwise causes or intends to cause commission of acts of violence or religious, racial or communal disharmony or feelings of ill-will or hostility between different communities or racial or religious groups is guilty of an offence.
The Minister said he had decided to extract the relevant sections from the PTA for the purpose of convenience, and was not meant to set a precedent of incorporating sections from special laws into the normal law. “I could have written the same thing out without referring to the PTA, but for the purpose of convenience, it was extracted from the PTA,” he added.
As the subject matter does not come entirely under the purview of his Ministry, the Cabinet paper was forwarded with the concurrence of the Ministry of Justice.
The Minister said he expects the matter to be concluded at the next Cabinet meeting.
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