Protection of Religious Communities by Blasphemy and Religious Hatred Laws: A Comparison of English and Indian Laws

Abstract

Globalization is broadly a process of opening up not just eco nomic markets but entire societies and cultures. In a globalized world, it is rarely possible to find a single homogenous country. Whereas some countries like India have historically had a diverse and multi-religious population, others such as England have, especially over the last cen tury, experienced waves of immigration changing the racial, religious, and cultural composition of their societies. The biggest question that immigration raises is the extent to which non-indigenous communities will be either accepted or rejected by the indigenous populations with which they come into contact. This essay seeks to examine the role of law in dealing specifically with a negative aspect of this assimilation: religious hate. It examines the laws employed to combat religious hate in England, an increasingly multi-religious jurisdiction, and compares them with those employed in India, a jurisdiction with a long tradition of accommodating many different and substantial religious communities.