2022 saw 31% rise in offences promoting enmity, hate speech

NT Correspondent

New Delhi: More than 1,500 cases were registered under IPC section 153A that penalises promoting enmity between different groups, including offences of hate speech, across India in 2022, a 31.25 per cent increase from 2021 but a 15.57 per cent decline from 2020, according to the NCRB.

Last year, the maximum of these 1,523 cases were lodged in Uttar Pradesh (217) followed by Rajasthan (191), Maharashtra (178), Tamil Nadu (146), Telangana (119), Andhra Pradesh (109), and Madhya Pradesh (108), the data showed.

In 2022, nine states registered over 100 cases under IPC sections 153A, while in 2021 there were just two states - Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh - with such offences in threedigits.