Religion is something which is very individual. It is one’s interest as in whom he believes in or does not believe in. It is usually believed as inner faith of one and one’s relation to supreme power. There are various divisions within a religion such as Vaishnav, Shiv,Lingayat in Hinduism among Jains, Digamabara and Svetambara. Division or sects within a religion follow a different faith from other sects by following different customs,practices and traditions.Therefore, it becomes necessary to protect and secure rights regarding faith of every religion and it should not be curtailed by somebody else or some sort of external force in any healthy society.

Keeping this point of idea in mind, in India the members of Constituent Assembly had decided to formulate India as a secular state because it has diverse but composite culture from people from so many different religious,cultural,linguistic and regional background. So Constituent Assembly, incorporated some basic provisions and Articles in the Constitution of India which represent the secularism of Indian democracy. These provisions protect the religious freedom of each and every person of India. Moreover Forty Second Amendment Of the Constitution of India also incorporated the word “secularism” in the Preamble of the Constitution in 1976 which strengthened the Indian secularism more.

The provisions of the Indian Constitution incorporates  fundamental right of religion in Part III under Article 25 to 28 . Article 25 imparts not only freedom of conscience but also freedom of profess, practice and propagate of religion. Article 26 provides freedom to manage religious affairs. Article 27 sets freedom as to payment of taxes for promotion of any particular religion. Article 28 gives freedom as to attendance at religious instruction or religious worship in certain educational institutions. Thus, we could say that Indian secularism is a positive kind of secularism which is neutral with respect to each and every religion and does not discriminate on the basis of religious faith. Indian secularism is based on “SarvDharmSambhav”. Although Indian Secularism is not absolute and it is subject to certain reasonable restrictions but it does not mean that those restrictions can be imposed unreasonably.

But now a days, this secularism and religious freedom is in extreme danger. Few anti-social and anti-national elements who have a secret agenda to create disturbance in the society are abusing various legislations to intimidate progressive and patriot citizens of the country. They are abusing criminal laws in huge amount to curtail the religious freedom which is not very fair for a healthy society.

Some latest instances could be referred with respect to attack on religious freedom by legal authorities. The banner of “Hindu Fruit Shop” by a fruitseller in Jamshedpur attracted attention suddenly of the entire nation. This photography was made viral on social media  tagging to local police authorities. Local police immediately removed that banner impartially and without any prima facie indication of social disharmony. But the same police could not remove any banner and take any legal action against “Muslim Dhaba”. Another instance is from Chennai where an FIR was lodged by local police against an owner of the bakery. He is the owner of a Jain Bakery and he does not have any staff member. The poster had gone viral on social media and many had called an action against the owner. Being proactive local police filed an FIR under section 504 of IPC (intentionally insulting and thereby provoking any person, intending or knowing it to be likelythat such provocation will cause him to break the public peace) and section 295 A of IPC(deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion).