NEW DELHI, Aug 11: President Droupadi Murmu on Tuesday gave her assent to a Bill making intentional disruption of the singing of the national song ‘Vande Mataram’ a punishable offence, bringing it under the same legal protection as the national anthem.
With the presidential assent, the Prevention of Insults to National Honour (Amendment) Bill, 2026 has become law. The Lok Sabha had passed the legislation on July 30, while the Rajya Sabha approved it a day earlier.
The amendment makes it an offence to intentionally prevent the singing of ‘Vande Mataram’ or disrupt an assembly engaged in singing it. Violations can attract up to three years’ imprisonment, a fine, or both, while repeat offenders face a minimum one-year jail term.
The earlier law provided similar protection only to the national anthem, ‘Jana Gana Mana’.
The Union Home Ministry said ‘Vande Mataram’ will be sung from the ramparts of the Red Fort for the first time during this year’s Independence Day celebrations.
The legislation noted that ‘Vande Mataram’, composed by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee and associated with India’s freedom struggle, was accorded equal status with the national anthem by Constituent Assembly president Dr Rajendra Prasad in 1950.
Earlier this year, the Home Ministry issued protocols for singing the national song, directing that all six stanzas be performed first whenever ‘Vande Mataram’ and the national anthem are sung or played together.
The ministry also directed that official functions, including the unfurling of the national flag, should follow the prescribed protocol, while schools were asked to begin the day with community singing of the national song.
