"Slander and libel do not apply to divine figures." Precisely, assuming there is such a thing as 'divine figures'.
From: Subimal Chakrabarty <subimal@yahoo.com>
To: "mukto-mona@yahoogroups.com" <mukto-mona@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Thursday, April 11, 2013 5:21 PM
Subject: Re: Save Bangladesh and its women from the upcoming crisis (Re: [mukto-mona] Fw: [notun_bangladesh] হেফাজতের হুমকির পর ॥ নারী কি বন্দী হবে?)
To: "mukto-mona@yahoogroups.com" <mukto-mona@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Thursday, April 11, 2013 5:21 PM
Subject: Re: Save Bangladesh and its women from the upcoming crisis (Re: [mukto-mona] Fw: [notun_bangladesh] হেফাজতের হুমকির পর ॥ নারী কি বন্দী হবে?)
Mr. Rahman
I appreciate your outlook. If I am not wrong, you support critiquing a religion (ref. your first sentence).
That should be the real spirit of a free thinker. I completely agree with you that nasty comments against any thing or anybody is distasteful and should be avoided in a serious discussion. We expect civility from everybody.
That should be the real spirit of a free thinker. I completely agree with you that nasty comments against any thing or anybody is distasteful and should be avoided in a serious discussion. We expect civility from everybody.
There is a problem though. When Pratibha Basu is heavily critical of Yudhisthira, a holy and highly revered character from the Mahabharata, would you sue her? I remember Sunil Ganguly was sued for a comment on the idol of goddess Saraswati. The court did not accept the case. I don't think Sunil's comment made the Hindus less religious although his comment obviously hurt the feelings of the religious Hindus. Such comments are also thought provoking for those who tend to be open minded. The same argument applies to Pratibha Basu's criticism of Dharmaputra Yudhisthira. These sorts of counter currents should be allowed for the progress of the society.
My point is that we not only don't need a blasphemy law, we also must not punish them under any other prevailing laws. This also means that I do not completely agree to what Hasina has said on this issue.
You can defame a person and thereby cause personal loss including financial loss to him in different ways. But you cannot do it to divine things or divine authorities although it can hurt the feelings of the believers. You do not need any law to protect the omnipotent divine power which is supposed to know how to protect itself. Believers should simply ignore or counterargue. Slander and libel do not apply to divine figures.
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