Police Scotland has been accused of "making it up as they go along" after discrepancies emerged in the way they responded to hate crime incidents.
The SNP introduced new hate crime legislation this week but it has since sparked fears that it could be overused, with the Scottish Tories estimating that 1.4 million complaints under the new law could be made in the first year.
Police Scotland said it would investigate every report made under the new law.
The row over the legislation escalated after Harry Potter author JK Rowling misgendered several trans people on social media, encouraging the police to arrest her. But the force confirmed that her posts were not being treated as a crime.
Police Scotland has been accused of "making it up as they go along" after discrepancies emerged in the way they responded to hate crime incidents
PA
Such comments can still be recorded as "non-crime hate incidents" (NCHI) - something that Tory MSP Murdo Fraser was logged as having committed after posting criticism of the Scottish government's "non-binary action plan" on social media in November. He claimed that "choosing to identify as ‘non-binary’ is as valid as choosing to identify as a cat".
While Fraser's comments were logged as an NCHI, Rowling's were not.
He said the decision to let Rowling off the hook "reeks of political bias".
Reacting to the discrepancy, Fraser said: "This decision means Police Scotland have not only breached their own policy on recording non-crime hate incidents, but now appear to be making it up as they go along.
“They have taken a different approach to comments made by the SNP first minister to those made by an opposition politician.
"It is hard not to conclude that Police Scotland has been captured by the SNP policy agenda and that this is a decision that reeks of political bias.
“I hope the chief constable will contact me urgently with an immediate apology for recording a hate incident against me and confirming all records in relation to it have been destroyed.
"They should also ditch their existing unlawful policy — as has been done in England and Wales — which I believe is a clear breach of people’s human rights."
Former general secretary of the Scottish Police Federation, Callum Steele, earlier this week claimed that the "number of online hate complaints recorded by Police Scotland in the past 24 hours" had surpassed 3,000.
If this continues for the first 12 months, the total number of complaints would reach 1.387 million.
Tory MSP Murdo Fraser was logged as having committed a NCHI after posting criticism of the Scottish government's "non-binary action plan" on social media in November
PA
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:
The Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act came into effect on Monday, which creates a new offence of “stirring up of hatred” for protected characteristics.
Yousaf said the new legislation "absolutely protects people in their freedom of expression" while guarding "people from a rising tide of hatred that we’ve seen far too often in our society".
The act was supported by MSPs from Scottish Labour and the Scottish Liberal Democrats, as well as the SNP.
It also creates a new offence of “threatening or abusive behaviour that is intended to stir up hatred” on the grounds of age, disability, religion, sexual orientation, transgender identity and variations in sex characteristics.
