The Supreme Court has asked the Union government to respond within two weeks to a petition by Chennai-based Carnatic vocalist TM Krishna against new rules on the National Song. Krishna is challenging the 2026 amendment to the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, which makes obstructing or disturbing the singing of the National Song punishable with up to three years in prison. He is also contesting two Home Ministry orders from January and July that make all six stanzas of Vande Mataram its official version and require it to be sung before the National Anthem at official events. A bench headed by Chief Justice Surya Kant said it expected existing Supreme Court precedent to govern the amended law.
The judges indicated that a conscientious objector who declines to sing one or all stanzas should not face criminal prosecution. They cited the 1986 Bijoe Emmanuel ruling, which protected Jehovah’s Witness schoolchildren in Kerala who stood silently during the anthem. Senior advocate S Muralidhar, appearing for Krishna, argued that the statute never defines what a national song is, making a penal provision dangerously vague. The petition says only the first two stanzas were accepted for national gatherings in 1937, after objections to later verses that invoke Hindu deities.
It argues that compelling all six stanzas violates freedom of conscience, equality and free expression. Justice Joymala Bagchi said it was not for the court to second-guess national sentiment attached to the song, which is a matter for the State. The hearing also saw a sharp exchange after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta used the word Naxalites, prompting Muralidhar to object. An earlier challenge to the January order had been dismissed as premature because it then carried no penalties.