New Delhi, Aug 11: President Droupadi Murmu, on Tuesday, gave her assent to a Bill that makes intentional prevention of the singing of the national song Vande Mataram, or causing disturbance to an assembly engaged in singing it, a punishable offence.With the President’s assent, the Prevention of Insults to National Honour (Amendment) Bill, 2026, has become law. The Lok Sabha passed the Bill on July 30, while the Rajya Sabha cleared it a day earlier. The legislation extends to Vande Mataram the legal protection accorded under the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act to the national anthem, Jana Gana Mana. The existing law prohibits intentionally preventing the singing of the national anthem or causing disturbance to an assembly engaged in such singing. Such offences are punishable with imprisonment of up to three years, a fine or both. A second and every subsequent conviction attracts a minimum prison term of one year. The erstwhile law did not provide similar statutory protection to the national song. “Presently, there is no specific legal provision to prevent insults to the singing of Vande Mataram, which is honoured as the national song. Therefore, in order to prohibit any person from intentionally preventing the singing of the national song or causing disturbance to any assembly engaged in such singing, it is proposed to amend Section 3 of the said Act to include the national song also within its ambit, so as to make such acts punishable,” the Bill had stated. The Bill also referred to a statement made by Constituent Assembly president Dr Rajendra Prasad on January 24, 1950, that Vande Mataram, composed by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee and associated with India’s freedom struggle, would be honoured equally with the national anthem, Jana Gana Mana. Earlier this year, the Union Home Ministry issued the first detailed protocol for the singing of Vande Mataram, directing that all six stanzas be sung when the full version is performed at specified official functions. In an order dated January 28, the ministry said the six stanzas, with a duration of three minutes and 10 seconds, would be sung at official functions, including the arrival of the President, unfurling of the national flag and addresses by governors. “When the national song and the national anthem are sung or played, the national song will be sung or played first,” the order said. It also directed that the assembly where the national song is sung should stand at attention. The order further stated that schools should begin the day with community singing of the national song. For the first time, Vande Mataram will also be sung from the ramparts of the Red Fort during the Independence Day celebrations, the Union Home Ministry said. PTI