Courtesy-TheIndianExpress
As the country tries to weed out comments which are critical of the armed forces, China has passed a recent law banning defamatory remarks against military personnel. Many of such remarks are made on social media platforms in the context of the India-China border conflict.
Under a 2018 legislation stating that any individual or groups defaming or slandering martyrs names, reputation or portraits shall be punished and held responsible criminally, the new law will add to the arsenal of these existing legal measures. The National People’s Congress (NPC) had passed the new law by China’s rubber-stamp Parliament on Thursday.
A popular Chinese blogger under the existing legislation was sentenced to 8-month jail as a consequence for posting slandering comments against the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) soldiers who lost their lives in the clash with the Indian Army the previous year at Galwan Valley in eastern Ladakh.
Prosecutors are allowed to act if the slander seriously affects soldier’s “missions and performance” as said in a report by Xinhua. The desecration of plaques in honour of military personnel is also banned by it. The legislation covering families of service personnel was meant to bolster the Chinese army’s sense of mission, said a former PLA instructor and Hong Kong-based military affairs commentator Song Zhongping.
According to Song as said to Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post, the new law will provide more comprehensive protection for the rights and honour of their soldiers, mentioning that previously their legal instruments were not complete.