IMPACT OF BLASPHEMY LAWS ON HUMAN RIGHTS OF RELIGIOUS MINORITIES: A REVIEW
Keywords:
blasphemy, religion, minorities, human rights, violationAbstract
The situation is always complicated when a religious, cultural and political majority and minority, both are involved in the act of blasphemy or accusation of blasphemy in a specific situation. From the perspective of safeguarding the rights of minorities this can be further classified into two categories. First, a majority community member commits the act of blasphemy against a minority, and second are minority community member is wrongfully accused of committing blasphemy against the majority religion, cultural values or political philosophy. Every instance of blasphemy involving a minority class affects the society more than where only majority class is involved. This paper is a brief overview of human rights’ violation of religious minorities in India, Indonesia and Pakistan in context of blasphemy and blasphemy laws. It is the need of time that these countries should adopt proper legal and social measures to address the grievances of religious minorities, especially Christians in Pakistan, Ahmadis in Indonesia, and Muslims in India.
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