Conference held at Nariman Point passes resolution against ‘ancient’ blasphemy laws in the Indian Penal CodeAn atheist conference held in the city has demanded repealing sections of the Indian Penal Code which they feel are used unfairly by religious groups to target freethinkers.The conference, held in Pune and Nashik as well, passed a resolution demanding scrapping of IPC sections 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on ground of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc), 295A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings or any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) and 298 (uttering, words, etc, with deliberate intent to wound the religious feelings of any person of the Indian Penal Code).The group will now write letters to the Centre and the Chief Justice of India, asking them to examine the laws.“Police complaints and court cases have been filed under provisions of 153A, 295A and 298 of IPC against many progressive thinkers under the pretext of ‘hurting religious sentiments’… Our Constitution does not promote religious sentiments in any way. And yet, powers with vested interests in trampling this fundamental duty, are trying to restrict writings, speech, art forms and creative expression of these thinkers to suppress those who are upholding this Fundamental Duty under cover of these laws,” reads the resolution passed at the conference.The meeting of the group, in its fourth consecutive year, was organised by Brights at the Yashwantrao Chavan Foundation in Nariman Point.As many as 550 persons registered for the conference and 350 attended the full day session. Advocate Asim Sarode and social activist Dr Vishwambhar Choudhari were chief speakers at the conference.“We echo Shaheed Bhagat Singh’s thought -‘My atheism is thoughtfully accepted without any pride’. Our stand is protected by the Constitution (Article 25) that has awarded the right to all citizens to worship any god as well as to assert the nonexistence of a higher power,” said Kumar Nage, an organiser.‘SC TOO QUESTIONED VALIDITY OF THE LAW’The resolution further points to Supreme Court observation which questioned the validity of the laws.“The Supreme Court in 2014 suggested to the Law Commission to examine validity of these laws. It is therefore necessary to examine if these ancient laws from the British era are consistent with the ‘freedom of expression’ as enshrined in the article 19(1) of the Constitution. Our Constitution does not promote religious sentiments in any way,” read the resolution.