Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, 1971
Context:
The Union Cabinet recently gave the go-ahead to officially amend the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, 1971.
This amendment aims to make any insult or obstruction to the singing of the National Song, Vande Mataram, a legally punishable offence.
Features of the Proposed Amendment:
Presently, the 1971 Act explicitly covers insults directed at the National Anthem (Jana Gana Mana), the National Flag, and the Constitution of India.
Violations under the current Act are punishable by imprisonment of up to three years, a fine, or both.
The new amendment will add specific clauses regarding the punishment for insulting Vande Mataram.
This legislative move follows earlier instructions issued by the Union Home Ministry in February.
Those directives mandated that all six stanzas of Vande Mataram should be sung or played at official events and stated that the National Song should be given precedence over the National Anthem when both are played.
However, those previous Ministry guidelines were only advisory and lacked statutory backing.
Historical Context of Vande Mataram:
Vande Mataram, which translates to a salutation of India imagined as a mother, was written by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay.
It was famously published within his seminal novel, Anandamath, in the early 1880s.
In 1937, leaders of the Indian National Congress decided to use the first two stanzas of the song at their political gatherings during the freedom struggle.
Constitutional Status:
Upon independence, the Constitution of the modern Republic of India officially accorded Vande Mataram the equal status of the National Song.