The problem with a law against "outrag[ing] religious feelings or any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs" is that outrage and insult are in the eye of the beholder. Muslims have consistently claimed to be outraged and insulted by any truthful and accurate presentation of Islamic jihad doctrine. Is truth, then, to be outlawed? And what would be the objective of those who want it to be?
An update on this story. "Writers run away after reading out Satanic Verses," from The Indian Awaaz, January 23:
JAIPUR: The four writers, who read out the banned Satanic Verses in violation the law of land, have run away from the Jaipur Literature Festival to undisclosed destination.They were facing imminent arrest following carrying and reading out extracts from Salman Rushdie's banned novel The Satanic Verses.
William Dalrymple, the co-Director of the Jaipur Literature Festival told the Hindu newspaper that Hari Kunzru, Ruchir Joshi, Amitava Kumar and Jeet Thayil have all left the Jaipur on the advice of their lawyer.
The paper said that the police had gone to Hari Kunzru's room to question him but he had already hurriedly left town.
“What a lot of people don't realise is that even reading from a banned book is against the law. This is part of a piece of absurd and draconian legislation going back to 1867 or thereabouts. I am convinced that the writers who did the readings were not aware that this is a punishable offence and could carry a fairly long prison sentence. You can discuss book, read from other writings by the author, have conversations with him, invite him, but you cannot either possess a copy or publicly read from a book that is banned. That is a punishable offence,” Dalrymple realized after his esteemed guests already committed punishable offence.
Meanwhile noted writer Chetan Bhagat said that organizers of the festival should not make heroes out of people who have been banned.
“Let us not make heroes out of people who have been banned,” said the best- selling author in clear reference to Salman Rushdie.
“They have been banned for hurting people. They have been banned for hurting Muslims. They shouldn’t be banned but they are not heroes,” he said.
“You can say Muslims are backward, aggressive, that’s fine. But they are right to get upset when their god is attacked. I wouldn’t like it if my gods are attacked,” Bhagat contended.
The legal experts say the police should book the authors (who read out portion of the banned book) under sections 153 A (Promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion) and 295 A (Deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings or any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) of the Indian Penal Code and immediately arrest them.
As Salman Rushdie could not make it to the festival due to perceived threat to his life, authors Hari Kunzru, Amitava Kumar and two others used their session at the festival to read from "Satanic Verses", giving clear indications that the festival was organized to create ill will within India..
The controversial book was banned in the India shortly after it was published in 1988, for hurting the sentiments of Muslims....
"The legal experts say the police should book the authors (who read out portion of the banned book) under sections 153 A (Promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion) and 295 A (Deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings or any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) of the Indian Penal Code and immediately arrest them."
I'm pretty sure Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Hindus, Atheists, Agnostics and every non-Muslims have their "feelings outraged," due to the "insulting, deliberate and malicious acts" of Muslims and the violent verses in the Quran.
India needs an equivalence to the American Freedom Law Center, and use this very law of the enemy, which Hamas linked CAIR is trying to implement in the US, to have every Muslim arrested, and to ban the very source of the Muslims intolerance and hate, the Quran and Islam.
"Fight against such as those to whom the Scriptures were given [Jews and Christians]...until they pay tribute out of hand and are utterly subdued." (Surah 9:27-)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9be6BefYahk
"They have been banned for hurting people."
Oh really?
How did they "hurt" those people? Did the shoot, whip, beat, or stone them? Did they steal money from them? Did they burn down their homes, steal their cars, kidnap their children? No?
No. They merely challenged ridiculous, irrational, mystical fantasies those people have chosen to treat as being rooted in reality instead of in the imaginations of those who created them and those who choose to continue to believe in the absence of any evidence whatsoever that they are true. They insist on their "right" to enjoy the mental benefits of believing that they are superior, enjoy the exclusive protection of an all-powerful god, and will be rewarded in a fantasy afterlife in the sky, justifies violent action against anyone whose words disturb those beliefs.
Which pretty much sums up the beef of most people who claim to have been "hurt" by criticism of their supernaturalist religious beliefs, but in the case of Muslims this claim is held to justify violent retribution against those who "cause" the hurt.
Mr. Bhagat says he gets upset when his gods are attacked. Would Mr. Bhagat like to explain why I should give a rat's ass about that? Why I should consider my basic human right to identify the nature of reality shold somehow be curbed to avoid stepping on his fantasies about gods and goddesses? Why the guarantee of protection for my right of free speech in our Bill of Rights should be suspended because Mr. Bhagat, or some hysterical Muslim, or anyone else, feels "hurt" by what I say? Or do religious people even consider the pain of those "unbelievers" who are silenced by force worth caring about?
Yes, those authors are heroes, Mr. Bhagat. You, sir, are a childish, petulant fool.
"The controversial book was banned in India shortly after it was published in 1988, for hurting the sentiments of Muslims...."
India is on a slippery slope and will end up being its own architect of extinction. She should ask herself whether she stands for "truth", yes or no. She should ask herself whether she is for "freedom of expression", yes or no.
She would probably answer "yes, but...". And that is where the lies and contradictions begins, and as Matthew 5:37 says,
"anything beyond this (yes or no) comes from the evil one."
OT
Croatia has just voted for joining the Eurabian Union, having sold out her identity for a few pieces of silver. The muslims in Europe will migrate there in order to create a caliphate of Albanian muslims, Bosnian muslims, and future Croatian muslims.
Chetan Bhagat is a two bit writer who the news paper is quoting and shouldn't be taken seriously. The laws in India about banning something that hurts feelings of a community are totally absurd and should be repealed. However, just the politicians here their Indian counterpart have no courage do the right thing!!
OT
There was much acknowledgement on the Bell story and comments that islam is a deadly threat. Churchill: “No stronger retrograde force exists in the world.”
Many expressed despair at finding a solution. I have no such problem. Not being squeamish, that is, excessively particular or scrupulous as to the moral aspect of things, I would advocate for the triple double Es which would temporarily set aside the impediments to solution. But first, I would change the motto to “One nation under reason” where freedom of worship is simply covered under Freedom. This I believe would remove the dagger at our throat. Now for the triple double Es. I would declare an “Existential Emergency” and implement “Emergency Ethics”. When the third double E is achieved, “Emergency Eradicated”, I would put the noose around my own neck and hang for crimes against "humanity".
Undaunted
Forbid that I so hold life as to become a dhimmi,
Traitor to man, mind, light, and the one Creator.
Shamed by those of iron will, the few undaunted
By faceless slaves of a lesser god, the Devil Allah.
Indian democracy (and many others in Europe and Asia as well) should grow up. If a democracy is to be truly democratic with minority rights potection, a person HAS THE RIGHT to be insulted by another person's opinions or beliefs, and that person may not retaliate with physical threats. If a particular part of society like the muslims) cannot abide by this idea then steps need to be taken to educate/ and punish violent offences in those who refuse to abide by the tennants of democracy.
Islam is INCOMPATIBLE with true human rights and a democratic state because at its very heart is TOTALITARIANISM.
“You can say Muslims are backward, aggressive, that’s fine. But they are right to get upset when their god is attacked. I wouldn’t like it if my gods are attacked,” Bhagat contended.
Ah, Mr. Bhagat, but the Qur'an and other fundamental orthodox Islamic doctrines do attack your gods. Hindus were slaughtered by the tens if not hundreds of thousands at a time (for totals well into the tens of millions over 13 centuries) for being idolators, polytheists, infidels, and unbelievers. They were wiped out of Central Asia.
Their only saving grace in South Asia, as the early Muslim conquerors observed with perplexed frustration, was that there were too many of them to slaughter outright.
The Buddhists of Central Asia and North India were largely extirpated (what happened to the people who sculpted the Bamayan statues?, no one asks), as were the adherents of other religions (e.g., Nestorian Christians). The typical modus operandi was to destroy (after pillaging and plundering) the Buddhist monasteries and temples and to slaughter or enslave all the monks and nuns, thereby destroying the spiritual center of the Buddhist societies. (And, of course, mosques would often be built atop the ruins, as with Hindu temples.)
Such mass murder of non-Muslims constitutes "good deeds" according to Islamic law, belief, and practice. They don't just attack your gods in their texts, Mr. Bhagat, they slaughter members of your faith (and other faiths) because they deeply believe that they have a religious mandate and obligation to do so.
According to Islamic blood money compensation (Saudi Arabia, an Islamic state), Hindus and Buddhists are worth 6.7% the value of a Muslim; Christians 50%.
The Shia doctrine of najis is a belief that non-Muslims (kafir) are "unclean," the equivalent of feces (shit), urine, spit, dead bodies, blood, semen, dogs, pigs, alcohol, and the sweat of animals.
Don't you find that offensive and insulting, Mr. Bhagat? I do.
Islamic texts and doctrines, in effect, are an insult to the religious beliefs and practices, let alone the dignity, of the rest of humanity.
Excellent post.
It's a foolish idea that Muslim's feelings are "hurt" by these excerpts. Feelings are only hurt when a unfavorable truth is recognized as such. A Muslim just gets angry, hysterically when his suppressed subconscious senses the truth.
It's really not about hurt feelings. As you point out, what is being called for is the protection of the Muslim's cowardly given right to feel superior as their religion demands they feel. India should be ashamed of itself for such suppression of free press & expression. It only makes Indian non-Muslims second class citizens bowing before the alleged sensitive feelings of their betters. This is, of course, what Muslims demand from the rest of the world.
Hello Fellow Jihadwatchers,
I am an Indian (Bhartiya). First of all, India is not really a secular country as you may think. It is an Islamo-Marxist country. Its ruling Congress Party has a long history of waging a proxy war against India and its ethnic people. It is no surprise they do what Mullah and Imams say.
Second, don't worry about a writer quoted in the newspaper. He is a writer of cheap, street fiction and not a serious one. So you can write him off. India did not have many cheap $2.95 or $4.95 dollars writers writing in English and he filled that gap.
I am not trying to bash him. Plain, hard truth. You read him and forget whereas you read Rushdie and re-read and can't stop admiring Rushdie's genius. You see the candle of human audacity burning in Rushdie and you admire him for that.
Lastly, not many people (non-muslims) in India have any knowledge of Islam. Chetan Bhagat do not have it. Two months ago, I did not have it. I just stumbled upon the real Islam and explored it and now I know. I have have seen so much danger in Islam that now I spread awareness about it to other Indians. We are in it together!
Truth is - The More Informed You are about Islam, the More Critical you are! The Less Informed, the Less Critical.
India is on a brink of disaster. Please help us to save it. Help us!
An Indian | jihadcorp (@) gmail.com
Hey Buddy,
The approximate number of Hindu slaughtered in India by Muslim invaders is around 80 million plus 10 million Buddhists!
Alas! They are being re-butchered now at the alter of dhimmitude.
Dear Canto28,
As an Indian, I don't know what to say here because you are 100% right. Indian governments have a long history of pursuing a glorious technic - path of least or no resistance. It was just another example of that,. And yes, Muslim appeasement continues and it makes Muslims more demanding.
The world, especially, Europe and America, can learn a lot from the undemocratic and cowardly traditions of Congress Indian governments.
The same laws apply against Koran. And in fact, some heroic Indians challenged Koran in a court of law. Indian government was so scared that it made an all out war against the people involved and the court just said what the government wanted.
Please have a read at the document submitted to the court.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/7696605/The-Calcutta-Quran-Petition
A must read!
An Indian | jihadcorp at gmail dot com
JAIPUR: The four writers, who read out the banned Satanic Verses in violation the law of land, have run away from the Jaipur Literature Festival to undisclosed destination.
They were facing imminent arrest following carrying and reading out extracts from Salman Rushdie's banned novel The Satanic Verses.
...................................
*Facing arrest*. Were the Muslims who threatened Rushdie with violence if he appeared in Jaipur also arrested? *They were not*.
More:
Meanwhile noted writer Chetan Bhagat said that organizers of the festival should not make heroes out of people who have been banned.
“They have been banned for hurting people. They have been banned for hurting Muslims. They shouldn’t be banned but they are not heroes,” he said.
...................................
I don't care whether Chetan Bhagat is a hack—he is also a coward—and a coward of the worst sort, who frames his abject cowardice *as a virtue*.
More:
The legal experts say the police should book the authors (who read out portion of the banned book) under sections 153 A (Promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion) and 295 A (Deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings or any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) of the Indian Penal Code and immediately arrest them.
...................................
Madness. It isn't Rushdie's rather indigestible book that is "promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion", but the vicious Muslims who have threatened his life for writing it.
More:
As Salman Rushdie could not make it to the festival due to perceived threat to his life, authors Hari Kunzru, Amitava Kumar and two others used their session at the festival to read from "Satanic Verses", giving clear indications that the festival was organized to create ill will within India.
...................................
*What crap*. This is a long-running book festival that is the largest in Asia. The ideas that it was designed to "create ill will within India" is ridiculous.
Cowards and hacks may not consider the authors who read from Rushdie's book heroes, but *I* do.
I wish Hari Kunzru, Ruchir Joshi, Amitava Kumar and Jeet Thayil the best, and hope they do not run afoul of India's disgusting, unjust law—or worse, some "offended" Muslim mob.
No one is even sure that it was/is illegal to read out from a banned book. This whole affair became a regular circus with these 4 authors having to move out of India quickly.
Salman Rushdie should have come to the Jaipur literature festival regardless of the threats.
And the government of India should have provided him with sufficient security to put his mind at ease.
Chetan Bhagat says he is offended when someone hurts his religious feelings............I don't know if he spoke up when painter M F Hussien drew naked Hindu Gods and Godesses.
@ Arjun Buddha Krishna, thanks for sharing a scholarly & wonderful document and a book. An excerpt: "Yet that is exactly what the votaries of Allah do themselves and want us to do. They cite certain rules which Allah had revealed regarding sharing of plunder among the Muslims or pertaining to their participation in congregational prayers, and want us to believe that Allah stands for social equality and human brotherhood! At the same time, we are advised not even to notice the barbarities which Allah wants the Muslims to heap on the non-Muslims. And if we fail to respond positively and try to judge Allah not in terms of isolated Ayats but on the basis of the Quran as a whole, we run the risk of being run down as bigots, as lacking in respect for the religion of a sister community! The logic which declares Tengiri to be a satan and denounces Chengiz Khan as an archcriminal but which, in the same breath, proclaims Allah as divine and hails the Ghaznavis, Ghuris, Timurs and Baburs as heroes, is, to the say the least, worse than casuistry.
The Quran can claim to be derived from a “divine source” only if we concede Allah’s claim to be divine. But the Quran itself provides ample evidence that its Allah is quite a questionable character even by ordinary ethical standards, not to speak of spiritual standards. Theologians of Islam have got away with the plea that the Quran has a “divine source” simply because its Allah has not yet been subjected to the scrutiny he deserves on account of his role in human history. He will continue to torment mankind till he is found out for what he is, and exorcised from minds on which he has acquired a stranglehold."