Faculty Seminar | Religious Penal Clauses in Context: Country Studies in Common Law Asia

The session was chaired by Dr Mrinal Satish.

Abstract: In this paper, Dr Mrinal traces the history, interpretation and contemporary application of religious penal clauses in India. He argues that the contemporary application of religious penal clauses has a chilling effect on free speech and expression, and is being used as a tool to curtail dissent and differing points of view. He demonstrates how a few provisions have been actively used in order to prosecute articulation of counter-majoritarian thoughts and views. Analysing contemporary usage of religious penal clauses, he argues that the criminal process is the punishment intended, and that there is no serious effort to take cases filed to their logical end.

The full paper will be made available at a later date.