Standing up for National Anthem: What the Supreme Court has ruled

• An executive magistrate in Srinagar sent 11 men to jail after they were detained for allegedly not rising for the National Anthem
• Srinagar Police posted on Twitter that “12 persons have been generally bound down for good behaviour under sections 107/151 of CrPC”.
• Police clarified that “unverified news” about “14 policemen/persons” being “arrested/suspended” was “completely false”.

The Law

• Section 107 (CrPC): Executive Magistrate can ask any person who is “likely to commit a breach of the peace or disturb the public tranquillity or to do any wrongful act that may probably occasion a breach of the peace or disturb the public tranquillity…to show cause why he should not be ordered to execute a bond…for keeping the peace” for up to a year.
• Section 151 (CrPC): Allows a police officer who knows of a design to commit a cognizable offence to “arrest, without orders from a Magistrate and without a warrant, the person so designing”.

Supreme Court Verdicts

1. Bijoe Emmanuel case

• The law around alleged disrespect to the National Anthem was laid down by the Supreme Court in its 1986 judgement in Bijoe Emmanuel & Ors vs State Of Kerala & Ors.
• The court granted protection to three children who did not join in the singing of the National Anthem at their school.
• The court held that forcing them to sing the Anthem violated their fundamental right to religion under Article 25 of the Constitution.
• Standing up respectfully when the National Anthem is sung, as the children had done, but not singing oneself “does not either prevent the singing of the National Anthem or cause disturbance to an assembly engaged in such singing so as to constitute the offence under the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, 1971
  • The Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, 1971 is an Act of the Parliament of India which prohibits the desecration of or insult to the country’s national symbols, including the National Flag, The Constitution and the National Anthem.
  • Section 3 of the Act prescribes jail up to three years and/ or a fine for “intentionally preventing the singing of the National Anthem or causing disturbance to any assembly engaged in such singing”.

2. Shyam Narayan Chouksey case

• The Supreme Court revisited the matter in Shyam Narayan Chouksey vs Union of India (2018).
• The court had passed an interim order that “All the cinema halls in India shall play the National Anthem before the feature film starts and all present in the hall are obliged to stand up to show respect to the National Anthem.”
• The court also ordered that when the Anthem is played
• Entry and exit doors shall remain closed
• It shall be with the National Flag on the screen
• However, in its final judgement, the court modified its 2016 interim order.
• It is modified to the extent that playing of the National Anthem prior to the screening of feature films in cinema halls is not mandatory, but optional or directory