‘No vacuum in law to deal with the offence’ — What Supreme Court said on hate speeches | India News
D Supreme Court Wednesday said existing legal provisions are sufficient to deal with hate speech crimes, declining to issue further directives on the matter as it falls within the legislature’s domain.“Prescription of punishment lies within the legislative domain. The constitutional scheme founded on the doctrine of separation of powers does not permit the judiciary to create new offences,” the Supreme Court said, adding that no legal vacuum exists to warrant the intervention sought.“While constitutional courts can interpret laws, they cannot legislate or compel the enactment of laws,” the Supreme Court said.The court, however, asked the Center to examine whether new laws should be enacted to deal with hate speech in the light of the changing social context.A bench of Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Sandeep Mehta delivered the judgment on a batch of petitions seeking directions and guidelines to deal with the issue of hate speech as cited by the Live Act.
