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Release Baby Skello and Repeal Archaic Laws

Jun 17, 2025 Letters

Dear Editor,

Kaieteur News – Two or three years ago, I condemned Former Georgetown Mayor Ubraj Naraine – for insisting that President Ali would make Guyana into a Sharia-style Muslim state. Given his platform, those were very dangerous remarks. I called on him to resign – he did not. Earlier this week, I wrote on David Hinds and his “lick bamzy” slurs – these are far more influential persons than “Baby Skello” – with potentially worse impact. None of these public political figures was arrested.  I noted the ERC, in a release, completely distancing themselves from Skello’s arrest. Therefore, it is likely that a Hindu – acting out of genuine pain – filed a police report.

But this matter should’ve been thrown out of court as fast as it came in – as the law relating to “blasphemous libel” is archaic and Unconstitutional. The anger and pain that Hindus have been feeling are very real, and very valid.

But jailing Skello is taking a very fragile situation – and making it far worse. Had Jesus been mocked, or had it been Allah – my stance would have remained the same. I’m well aware that not everyone agreeing with me now will agree with me in instances involving other faiths. But I’ll continue to let principle guide my praxis – over emotion. And I can only encourage others to do the same – whether this is a popular position or not.

To call Baby Skello an artist would be an affront to the entire musical art form in general. His “song” about Ma Lakshmi – amidst an apparent recent spike in Anti-Hindu sentiment was outright crass and disgraceful.  I reiterate: releasing a song degrading a Hindu deity at the height of an apparent wave of Hinduphobia was wrong – especially during the aftermath of the “sacrifice” conspiracy theories relating to the Adriana Young case.

But this is not how to do it. If anything, it could make things worse.

And I’m saying this as a Hindu.

But religious zealotry is something that should never be legislated. Let the tides of public discourse naturally reject and disregard what is vulgar and what is socially unacceptable. If anything, there exists the potential to create new waves of hatred by “legislating morality”. Who would face the brunt of potential public unrest provoked by this jailing?

When I saw the mass collective outrage by the Hindu community — with widespread protests and several Hindu organizations outrightly condemning him — I viewed this as very effective and well-warranted mobilization in standing up to anti-Hindu sentiment, to the point where I even saw several of my Christian and Muslim brothers and sisters joining in and condemning the song too. This is what I mean by ventilating in the public discourse -it filters, contextualizes, and ultimately discards what is crass.

Following this, the ERC called in Skello for questioning. He subsequently apologized – even if it was largely incoherent. Efforts like these are needed and will yield greater results in the long run.

We cannot descend into a slippery slope of unnecessary censorship — the fact that there was effective mobilization by the Hindu community, prompting embrace and support from the other faiths, is testament to the power of public discourse and effective grassroots mobilization as a means of combating anti-Hindu sentiment. Division and xenophobia are inherited generational curses. To break generational curses requires generational efforts — not the legislation of zealotry.

Pursuant to this, I am publicly and directly appealing to the Chancellor of the Judiciary as well as the Judicial Service Commission to expedite the release of Baby Skello and thoroughly examine this troubling decision by Magistrate Latchman – and to take appropriate disciplinary measures.

Finally, I am appealing to the Law Reform Commission – to take the necessary steps to remove “blasphemous libel” as well as other archaic criminalized offences from our law books to reflect contemporaneous societal and human rights standards.

Yours faithfully,

Nikhil Sankar

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