The Supreme Court has expressed its expectations that a person who does not sing all six stanzas of Vande Mataram for religious reasons should not face criminal prosecution. The court is hearing a petition filed by Carnatic singer TM Krishna challenging the constitutional validity of the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Amendment Act.
The Supreme Court, in a significant development, has expressed its expectations that a person who does not sing all six stanzas of Vande Mataram for religious reasons should not face criminal prosecution. This statement was made by a bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant, and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana while hearing a petition filed by Carnatic singer TM Krishna challenging the constitutional validity of the 2026 Prevention of Insults to National Honour Amendment Act. The law, which received presidential assent on August 6, gives Vande Mataram the same statutory protection as the national anthem, Jana Gana Mana. The bench has asked the Union government to respond to the petition within two weeks, according to Bar and Bench.
The law criminalises insults to the national song, with intentional prevention or disruption of singing it punishable with imprisonment of up to three years, a fine or both. The 1971 Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act already makes insulting the national anthem, national flag or Constitution punishable with similar penalties.
In addition to the 2026 amendments to the 1971 law, Krishna has challenged directions issued by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs in February requiring that all six stanzas of the Vande Mataram be sung at government, ceremonial and cultural occasions. Only the first two stanzas had been played at official functions earlier, with the remaining stanzas omitted due to their religious nature invoking Hindu goddesses Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswati.
Krishna contends that the Union government’s directions compel citizens to sing stanzas that are ‘expressly devotional, deity-invoking and non-secular’. By mandating the singing of all six stanzas under penal sanction, the state ‘transforms what is unquestionably a contested historical symbol into a compelled orthodoxy’, he said.
Source:
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