Supreme Court flags protection for Vande Mataram objectors

The Supreme Court on Tuesday indicated that a person who declines to sing all six stanzas of Vande Mataram for religious or conscientious reasons should not face criminal prosecution, while directing the Union government to respond within two weeks to a petition challenging the 2026 amendment extending penal protection to the national song. A bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V Mohana heard the petition filed by Carnatic singer TM Krishna, which challenges the constitutional validity of the 2026 amendment to the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, 1971. The amendment, which received presidential assent on August 6, extends to Vande Mataram the same statutory protection accorded to the national anthem, Jana Gana Mana, with penalties of up to three years imprisonment, a fine, or both for intentionally preventing the singing of the national song or disrupting an assembly engaged in singing it.