BELAGAVI: The State Government on Wednesday tabled 12 of the total 13 bills in the Assembly. Karnataka Prevention of Animal Slaughter and Protection (Amendment) Bill was not presented.
While 11 Bills presented by the government were accepted without any opposition, the Opposition, mainly the BJP, opposed he contentious Karnataka Hate Speech and Hate Crimes (Prevention) Bill 2025.
The BJP leaders raised a strong voice against the government and opposed the Bill when it was presented by Home Minister Dr G Parameshwara. Speaker UT Khader, however, tabled the Bill and it was accepted.
BJP members said that the Bill was an attempt to target the Opposition. Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R Ashoka, said that this bill is nothing but an “obsession” of the Ruling party. This is aimed at snatching freedom of expression, especially of the political opponents, he said.
LoP in Council Chalavadi Narayanaswamy echoed a similar sentiment. “This is mainly to target the opposition. We have examples that when we lodge a complaint, neither FIR is registered nor arrests made but when we post something on social media, we are arrested without even a formal complaint,” Narayanaswamy said.
The salient features of the Bills are— curb and prevent dissemination, publication or promotion of hate speech and crimes which causes disharmony, hatred in the society against any person or the group. The Bill also proposes punishment and proposes compensation to the victims of hate speech or crime.
The Bill further proposes imprisonment for the term of one year which may be extended to seven years with a fine of Rs 50,000. For any repetitive offences, the punishment shall not be less than two years which may be extended up to 10 years and fine of Rs 1 lakh. The offence has been treated as cognisable and non bailable and triable by the judicial magistrate first class. The Bill was cleared by the Cabinet on December 4.