The Danish government announced that it will present a bill to the parliament on 25 August that prohibits the burning of the Qur’an and other holy books and the attacks on these books.
The bill would propose adding paragraph 2 of the Danish Penal Code to Article 110, which states that “a person shall be found guilty of improper conduct to an object of religious significance for the purpose of public or wider dissemination”.
Degrading treatment of religious books would constitute a crime
Scriptures, scriptures, and the like, which are considered sacred in a particular belief tradition and contain religious teachings, will be considered “objects of religious significance”.
The Qur’an, Bible, Torah and Vedas (the sacred texts of Hinduism) will be among the objects of religious importance, but clothing, although religious significance can be attributed, will not be included in this scope.
The offense of “degrading treatment of an object of religious significance” is punishable by a fine or imprisonment of up to two years.
Police will be able to intervene in violations against religious objects
Actions that involve burning, soiling, stepping on, kicking, tearing, cutting with a knife or destroying it by similar means will be considered “inappropriate behavior towards a religious object”.
The depiction, reproduction or imitation of objects of religious significance by drawing, painting, model or similar methods will not constitute a crime.
Also, throwing the scriptures into the public trash will not be considered a violation of the law, unless it is done in a way that could be seen as insulting or humiliating.
If the police become aware that the crime of “violation against objects of religious significance” has been committed or will be committed, they will be able to intervene in accordance with the rules and put an end to the criminal activity.
Improper treatment will be required to take place “in the public domain or for the purpose of dissemination”.
Accordingly, improper treatment will constitute a crime if done in public and shared over the internet. Actions that take place in a closed environment will generally not fall within the scope of the provision.
Inappropriate posts, live broadcasts or other forms of action against an object of religious significance from social media accounts with a large number of followers and connections will be deemed to have been carried out with the aim of spreading it to a wider area and will be considered a crime.
The bill is expected to come to parliament in September.
Danish Minister of Justice, Peter Hummelgaard, announced at a press conference on August 25 that they would soon submit a bill banning attacks on holy books.
Hummelgaard announced that the sole purpose of the attacks on holy books was to “create hatred and sow discord”, and that the proposed law would be combined with the law that currently prohibits the burning of national flags.
Hummelgaard said that with the regulation, they will ban both the burning of holy books and inappropriate behavior towards religious values, “This law will punish those who burn the Quran and Bible in public. This law will only target actions taken in public places or with the aim of spreading it to a wider environment. ” had used the words.
The proposal is expected to come to the 179-seat parliament in September and be voted on in October after consultations.