The Supreme Court on Wednesday (April 29) held that existing legal provisions are sufficient to deal with the charges of hate speech. It flagged the uneven enforcement of the laws rather than legislative silence as a concern. The bench comprising Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta said, “The contention that the field of hate speech remains legislatively unoccupied is misconceived. The existing framework of substantive criminal law, including the provisions of the IPC and allied legislation, adequately addresses acts that promote enmity, outrage religious sentiments, or disturb public tranquillity. The field is therefore not unoccupied.” When the court took up petitions on the subject, it was expected to step in where Parliament had not, and lay down a framework to address the lack of legislation for governing hate speech. Instead, the SC declined to expand the law and, in doing so, reframed the problem itself.…