Almost every one, who has an email id, must have received mails promising good luck on same being forwarded to number of other people or threat of divine disgrace if not forwarded. Some times they also promise better luck depending on the number of people to whom such mails are forwarded. Following is the extracts of relevant portion of one such mail:
Send this (mail) to at least 5 people and your life will improve.
1-4 people: Your life will improve slightly.
5-9 people: Your life will improve to your liking.
9-14 people: You will have at least 5 surprises in the next 3 weeks
15 and above: Your life will improve drastically and everything you ever dreamed of will begin to take shape.
It must leave your hands in 6 MINUTES. Otherwise you will get a very unpleasant surprise. This is true, even if you are not superstitious, agnostic, or otherwise faith impaired.
Some times the threat will be more severe like the one (extract from another mail) below:
If you do not send this mail to anybody, your life will be a living hell.
You have 5 days to send this letter to at least 1 person.
You can send this to as many people, as you want to.
I am warning you.
Such promise of good luck or threat of divine disgrace comes along with some concocted stories, at times, stating that God appeared in the dream of some one and instructed him to spread it to all…and the chain should not be broken etc., etc.,
What is more disturbing is that people who are well educated and better qualified than the ordinary lot forward such emails. Some times I receive such emails from friends who have graduate or post-graduate degrees in law. What they are not understanding is that forwarding such mails would amount to an offence under section 508 of IPC. It reads as follows:
Section 508. Act caused by inducing person to believe that he will be rendered an object of the Divine displeasure. - Whoever voluntarily causes or attempts to cause any person to do anything which that person is not legally bound to do, or to omit to do anything which he is legally entitled to do, by inducing or attempting to induce that person to believe that he or any person in whom he is interested will become or will be rendered by some act of the offender an object of Divine displeasure if he does not do the thing which it is the object of the offender to cause him to do, or if he does the thing which it is the object of the offender to cause him to omit, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to one year, or with fine, or with both.
Some high courts have interpreted the provision very narrowly by emphasising more on the words “by some act of the offender”. According to the said interpretation, no act would amount to an offence under this provision unless there is an attempt to induce the person to believe that “he or any person in whom he is interested… will be rendered by some act of the offender an object of Divine displeasure” (emphasis supplied). According to this interpretation, mere act of forwarding such mails would not amount to an offence. But to construe so, is to render the words “will become or” meaningless. Thus, if construed in proper perspective, such act of forwarding emails carrying threat of divine disgrace would amount to an offence under this provision.
Forwarding such emails may be an innocuous or innocent act but what is to be noted is that “ignorance of law is not excusable”. An offence is an offence whether done with or without the knowledge of law. Even an illiterate cannot plead ignorance of law. How about ignorance of law by law graduates and post-graduates!
Whether one considers act of forwarding such mails as an offence or not, such acts certainly falls below the constitutionally expected standard of behaviour. Constitution imposes a duty on every citizen, inter alia, “to develop the scientific temper, humanism and the spirit of enquiry and reform” [Article 51-A (h)]. Spreading superstition by threatening the receiver of email that he/she will be subjected to divine disgrace unless the same mail is forwarded to others is contrary to the constitutional expectation that one shall develop the scientific temper, spirit of enquiry and reform.
Religious belief and faith in god is one thing, spreading superstition is yet another. The former has been accorded the status of fundamental right in the Constitution of India, whereas the latter is contrary to the fundamental duties imposed on the citizens. One should not mislead the innocents who are God fearing also.
Thus, before forwarding such emails, there is a need to pause and think.
Send this (mail) to at least 5 people and your life will improve.
1-4 people: Your life will improve slightly.
5-9 people: Your life will improve to your liking.
9-14 people: You will have at least 5 surprises in the next 3 weeks
15 and above: Your life will improve drastically and everything you ever dreamed of will begin to take shape.
It must leave your hands in 6 MINUTES. Otherwise you will get a very unpleasant surprise. This is true, even if you are not superstitious, agnostic, or otherwise faith impaired.
Some times the threat will be more severe like the one (extract from another mail) below:
If you do not send this mail to anybody, your life will be a living hell.
You have 5 days to send this letter to at least 1 person.
You can send this to as many people, as you want to.
I am warning you.
Such promise of good luck or threat of divine disgrace comes along with some concocted stories, at times, stating that God appeared in the dream of some one and instructed him to spread it to all…and the chain should not be broken etc., etc.,
What is more disturbing is that people who are well educated and better qualified than the ordinary lot forward such emails. Some times I receive such emails from friends who have graduate or post-graduate degrees in law. What they are not understanding is that forwarding such mails would amount to an offence under section 508 of IPC. It reads as follows:
Section 508. Act caused by inducing person to believe that he will be rendered an object of the Divine displeasure. - Whoever voluntarily causes or attempts to cause any person to do anything which that person is not legally bound to do, or to omit to do anything which he is legally entitled to do, by inducing or attempting to induce that person to believe that he or any person in whom he is interested will become or will be rendered by some act of the offender an object of Divine displeasure if he does not do the thing which it is the object of the offender to cause him to do, or if he does the thing which it is the object of the offender to cause him to omit, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to one year, or with fine, or with both.
Some high courts have interpreted the provision very narrowly by emphasising more on the words “by some act of the offender”. According to the said interpretation, no act would amount to an offence under this provision unless there is an attempt to induce the person to believe that “he or any person in whom he is interested… will be rendered by some act of the offender an object of Divine displeasure” (emphasis supplied). According to this interpretation, mere act of forwarding such mails would not amount to an offence. But to construe so, is to render the words “will become or” meaningless. Thus, if construed in proper perspective, such act of forwarding emails carrying threat of divine disgrace would amount to an offence under this provision.
Forwarding such emails may be an innocuous or innocent act but what is to be noted is that “ignorance of law is not excusable”. An offence is an offence whether done with or without the knowledge of law. Even an illiterate cannot plead ignorance of law. How about ignorance of law by law graduates and post-graduates!
Whether one considers act of forwarding such mails as an offence or not, such acts certainly falls below the constitutionally expected standard of behaviour. Constitution imposes a duty on every citizen, inter alia, “to develop the scientific temper, humanism and the spirit of enquiry and reform” [Article 51-A (h)]. Spreading superstition by threatening the receiver of email that he/she will be subjected to divine disgrace unless the same mail is forwarded to others is contrary to the constitutional expectation that one shall develop the scientific temper, spirit of enquiry and reform.
Religious belief and faith in god is one thing, spreading superstition is yet another. The former has been accorded the status of fundamental right in the Constitution of India, whereas the latter is contrary to the fundamental duties imposed on the citizens. One should not mislead the innocents who are God fearing also.
Receiving such mails can be very trying at times though there is nothing substantive about the content of these mails. Appreciating the innovative legal twist given to it by the author I would like to note here just two things: 1) the psychological aspect of such mails. Given today’s competitive society with spiralling desires most people are unhappy and far from satisfied with what they have. This dissatisfaction is, in my opinion, perhaps more an exaggeration- state of mind than fact but this is exactly what is taken advantage of by those who initiate such mails. They know that there are many to circulate these mails. It is not so much an issue of faith but rather a thoughtless passing forward of messages of this tech-savvy generation who are bored for the most part. And, 2) Given the Indian society and the still existent superstitious baggage which continues to erode basic human rights, the extreme example of which is human sacrifices still being performed to usher in good fortune, I can guess why such a Section was included in the IPC but this linkage of such mails with ‘Divine displeasure’ as stated in the IPC is not all too clear to me. For me, such mails are trivial being mostly of anonymous origin and one always has the option to delete them and not forward them. But the fact that they exist does imply that there is something lacking somewhere which needs to be thought about. And I am glad the author draws attention to this fact.
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