  A direct search for lepton flavour violating decays of the Higgs boson (H) in
the H to e tau and H to e mu channels is described. The data sample used in the
search was collected in proton-proton collisions at sqrt(s) = 8 TeV with the
CMS detector at the LHC and corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 19.7
inverse femtobarns. No evidence is found for lepton flavour violating decays in
either final state. Upper limits on the branching fractions, B(H to e tau ) <
0.69% and B(H to e mu) < 0.035%, are set at the 95% confidence level. The
constraint set on B(H to e tau) is an order of magnitude more stringent than
the existing indirect limits. The limits are used to constrain the
corresponding flavour violating Yukawa couplings, absent in the standard model.
