Over 74 per cent of Sri Lanka’s 22 million inhabitants are Buddhists.

Colombo:

Sri Lanka is drafting a brand new laws to curb the rising incidents of non secular slander and on-line vitriol, in accordance with the nation’s non secular affairs minister.

The transfer comes after a humorist Nathasha Edirisooriya allegedly made sure derogatory remarks on religions, which she uploaded on-line.

Edirisooriya provided an apology, however a grievance was filed and she or he was taken into custody on Sunday whereas attempting to fly in a foreign country.

Sri Lanka’s Minister of Buddhashasana, Religious, and Cultural Affairs Vidura Wickramanayaka on Sunday stated a laws would quickly be handed to curb the rising incidents of non secular slander within the nation.

“This will stop all incidents of demeaning religion on social media,” he asserted. The controversy surrounding Edirisooriya’s feedback is just not a one-off incident. Earlier this month, Pastor Jerome Fernando, a self-styled Godman, was accused of derogatory feedback on Lord Buddha, which went viral on social media.

On May 15, President Ranil Wickremesinghe ordered the Criminal Investigation Department to launch a direct investigation into the matter, arguing that such statements might create non secular conflicts within the nation.

Like Edirisooriya, Fernando additionally provided an apology.

He has, nevertheless, fled to Singapore and filed a elementary rights petition to dam his impending arrest.

In January, a preferred Youtuber Sepal Amarasinghe was despatched to police custody for making disparaging feedback on the Sacred Tooth relic of Lord Buddha.

The Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic is a Buddhist temple in Kandy.

It is positioned within the royal palace complicated of the previous Kingdom of Kandy, which homes the relic of the tooth of the Buddha.

The arrest got here after parliamentarians throughout the aisle unanimously condemned Amarasinghe’s feedback on his YouTube channel.

Amarasinghe’s YouTube channel has practically 80,000 subscribers and the outspoken man is well-known on social media for his unorthodox views that problem what he claims are parochial traditions and customs.

Over 74 per cent of Sri Lanka’s 22 million inhabitants are Buddhists. Sri Lanka’s Constitution accords Buddhism because the “foremost place” among the many nation’s non secular faiths and commits the federal government to defending it, whereas additionally respecting the rights of different non secular minorities.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV employees and is printed from a syndicated feed.)