By W. Vishnu Gupta –

W. Vishnu Gupta

Double-faced activities

It is well known that the fake people are double-faced, they will never show you who they truly are. They might appear among us as peace-loving fellow citizens who cares about our struggle against injustice and corruption while hiding their real face before us. True colours and intentions of such fake men and women get exposed during turbulent times, such as political and economic crisis currently faced by Sri Lankans. Notably, they are controversial and massive rumour mongers with no morals and no conscience, it would not upset them in the least that they are talking ill about someone, or some object dearly loved by many millions. Many provocative Youtubers falling into this category are known to discuss various social and political situations in Sri Lanka with catchy phrases. They are pseudo characters driven by huge monetary benefits under the banner of social activism and accustomed to use “YouTube” as the preferred and most profitable mode to propagate disinformation and misinformation on many issues in the realm of war, peace, politics, personal hygiene, agriculture, sports and religions etc Moreover, they appear to have focussed on presentations laced with profanity mostly based on innuendos, personal taste and very often targeting politicians, religion, and religious leaders. Sometimes, centered on hatred toward various strata of the society including diaspora in western countries and the senior citizens. For instances, they will be cynical about fellow Sri Lankans and may advised the voters not to participate in the elections or reject all the candidates by spoiling the ballot paper as it was witnessed in the presidential election held in November 2019. They may appear in the ongoing “Aragalaya” campaign as supporters but when things are not happening according to their political affiliations and beliefs fashioned by hatred, they will be the first ones to castigate Aragalaya. 

Foremost among the revulsive ideas held by these cynics in Sri Lanka are a) the senior citizens were responsible for electing the oligarchies to rule the country since 1948 b) religion especially the Buddhist clergies were responsible for ensuring the survival of deceptive and vile oligarchy leaders such as Bandaranaikes, Jayewardene, Rajapaksas and Ranil. c) all religions are infested with unvirtuous elements d) “Diyasena” and his expected arrival to cleanse the vile political regimes. This newly emerging social media phenomena are evident in the recent contentious comments made by one of the youtubers on the presence and maintaining sanctity of Dalada Maligawa. Although, in his remarks reference was made to lack of good virtues of some clergies, his message conveyed through words (fortified with profanity), distasteful tone, and body language was sufficient to infuriate the Buddhist community. Besides it is well known that there are unvirtuous or impious clerics in every religion and Buddhism is not an exception. Particularly in this case, any “eager beaver’s tirade against Buddhism and sacrilege, or profanity directed towards Sacred Tooth Relic enshrined in the Dalada Maligawa in Kandy which is venerated by many millions of local and worldwide Buddhist devotees is uncalled for. Religion has no bearing on the country’s economic and financial crisis, these suspected atheists have got it all wrong, Buddhism or the Sacred Tooth Relic of Gautama Buddha is not responsible for the economic crimes of last seven decades and related economic crisis. Contrary to these twisted stories, average citizens understand by now that fake and double-faced politicians, phony media, and the limelight hoggers such as political chauvinists are responsible for driving Sri Lankans into misery. 

The time has come for the judiciary system of the country to be fair and swift on acting on authors or architects of hate speech, perpetrators must be arrested for making statements defaming the places of worship or making mockery out of sanctified places such as Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic. Under the cover of freedom of expression, many Youtubers and fake social activists have been attacking religions, particularly Buddhism and sometimes Islam in Sri Lanka. These atheists seem to know very well that there is no legal definition of “hate speech” under the Sri Lankan law, just as there is no legal definition for spiteful, rudeness, unpatriotic speech, profanity, or any other malicious speech that 99.9 percent of the Sri Lankans would denounce. Strangely, the very same social activists have not come forward enthusiastically and deplore the actions of an unscrupulous man known as “Sri Bosath” involved in constructing controversial temple (a replica of Dalada Maligawa) for the Sacred Tooth Relic in Pothuhara, Kurunagala. 

The applicable laws

The rule of law must prevail, those who are driven by short-term political gains and contemplating to inflict further damage to harmonious co-existence of various religions and their followers in Sri Lanka should be reminded of “Chapter XV” of penal code on offences relating to religion. At the beginning of this chapter, Article 290 states:

“Whoever destroys, damages, or defiles any place of worship, or any object held sacred by any class of persons, with the intention of  thereby insulting the religion of any class of persons or with the knowledge that any class of persons is likely to consider such destruction, damage, or defilement as an insult to their religion, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to two years or with fine, or with both.” 

Furthermore, Article 291B of the same penal code has stated emphatically that: 

“Whoever with the deliberate and malicious intention of outraging the religious feelings of any class of persons, by words, either spoken or written, or by visible representations, insults or attempts to insult the religion or the religious beliefs of that class, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine, or with both,’

Despite lack of legal definition of “hate speech” in the country, Sri Lankans especially the double-faced politicians, double-faced media outlets and the fake social activists should be aware of, that Sri Lanka is a signatory to the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) Act of 2007. Apparently, this unscrupulous lot have failed to pay attention to what the country has promised to the international community. Article 3(1) says:

 “No person shall propagate war or advocate national, racial, or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility, or violence. Article 3(3) further states “A person found guilty of committing an offence under subsection (1) …. .. shall on conviction by the High court, be punished with rigorous imprisonment for a term not exceeding ten years.” 

Whatever the excuse given by those who commit sacrilege, the legal matters should not be treated trivial. It behoves us to study and analyze future court judgements because under comparable situations, where others including politicians, clerics and civilians alleged to have committed similar crimes falling within the domain of penal code of Sri Lanka and ICCPR Act of 2007, have never been apprehended. The responsible learned lawmakers and certainly judiciary officers should not fail to ensure equality before the law as it means the law should apply to all people equally regardless of their status in society; rich or poor, young, or old, irrespective of their gender, race, culture, religion, or any other attribute.

The atheists in Sri Lanka should not be permitted to take advantage of paucity of legal definition for hate speech. No one can question their constitutional rights to peacefully exercise the freedom of religion or beliefs and freedom of expression. Late Mangala Samaraweera is well known for taking cover behind these constitutional rights when he was defending his extreme views and defiling Buddhist clergy. However, generally, hate speech is any form of expression through which speakers intend to vilify, humiliate, or incite hatred against a group or a class of persons based on race, religion, color, sexual identity, gender, ethnicity, or national origin. Sri Lankans irrespective of their religious affiliations or ethnicity must know that hateful words can be as dangerous as physical violence against people. Heinrich Heine (1797-1856), German poet said, “those who burn books will in the end burn people,” in 1822, these words would have seemed silly at that time. But 100 years later Nazis Burnt Jewish Books and few years afterwards killed many millions of Jews. Likewise, Sri Lankans should not forget the burning of Jaffna Library. These are good lessons to learn from history and we should not tolerate or encourage hate speech spewed by any quarter of the society be it by the politicians, by religious bigots, or atheists under the cover of freedom of expression.   

Finally, it can be assured that followers of Gautama Buddha, the worldwide Buddhists will forgive and forget sacrileges committed by controversial men and women in no uncertain terms. However, the judiciary must not fail to act according to the rule of law in the country and international covenants to protect those affected by hate speech, blasphemy, or desecration of sacred institutions. Because the law ought to be impartial towards religion and beliefs and facilitate an extended space where, subject only to legitimate interferences for the protection of racial discrimination, and freedom of religion.