Kochi: The Bill that criminalises intentional disruption or prevention of the singing of the National Song ‘Vande Mataram’ has been given assent by the President Droupadi Murmu on Tuesday.
The Prevention of Insults to National Honour (Amendment) Bill, 2026, has become a law following the assent of the President.
The Lok Sabha had passed the Bill on July 30, while the Rajya Sabha had cleared it a day earlier, media reports said.
Vande Mataram will be sung from the ramparts of the Red Fort for the first time at the Independence Day function, the Union Home Ministry said.
These offences were punishable with up to three years of imprisonment, a fine or both, while a second and every subsequent conviction attracted a minimum of one year’s imprisonment.
The President of the Constituent Assembly, Dr. Rajendra Prasad, on January 24, 1950, stated that the song ‘Vande Mataram’ composed by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, shall be honoured equally with the national anthem ‘Jana Gana Mana’ and shall have equal status with it, the Bill further said.
Insult to Vande Mataram punishable
