HYDERABAD: In a move to curb hate speech and hate crimes in Telangana, the state government tabled a Bill in the Legislative Assembly prescribing a jail term of up to 10 years and a fine of Rs 1,00,000. Hate speech and hate crimes, under this new law, will be cognisable and non-bailable.
Legislative Affairs Minister D Sridhar Babu introduced The Telangana Hate Speech and Hate Crimes (Prevention) Bill, 2026 in the Assembly on Sunday.
Hate speech includes any expression that is made, published or circulated, in words either spoken or written or by signs or by visible representations or through electronic communication, with the intention to cause injury, disharmony or feelings of enmity or hatred or ill-will against a person, alive or dead, class or group of persons or community.
The Bill defines prejudicial interest to include bias on the grounds of religion, race, caste or community, sex, gender, sexual orientation, place of birth, residence, language, disability and tribe.
Under this new law, whoever commits a hate crime will be punished with imprisonment for a term which will not be less than one year, which may extend up to seven years with a fine of Rs 50,000. If any person commits subsequent or repetitive offences, the punishment will be not less than two years, which may extend up to 10 years with a fine of Rs 1,00,000.
The Bill also contains provisions for compensation to the victims. “The court may award adequate compensation to the victim by calculating the injury caused due to hate crime, depending upon the gravity of the impact of the crime,” the Bill explained.
The Bill also seeks to punish organisations or institutions for hate crimes. “If the person committing an offence under this Act is an organisation or institution, every person who, at the time of the offence committed, was in charge of and was responsible to, such organisation or institution for the conduct of the business of the same, as well as such organisation or institution shall be deemed to be guilty of the offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.” Here, organisation or institution means an association of persons whether registered or not.
Meanwhile, in the Statement of Objectives and Reasons of the Bill, the government stated that in recent years, there has been a discernible increase in incidents of hate speech and hate crimes, particularly through digital and social media platforms, which have the potential to spread rapidly and cause serious harm to public order and social harmony. The existing legal framework does not comprehensively address the evolving nature and manifestations of hate speech and hate crimes, necessitating a dedicated and robust legislation to effectively prevent, regulate and penalise such conduct, while also protecting and providing redress to the affected persons.