Saptrishi Soni: The Punjab government’s bold move to table a new anti-sacrilege bill marks a defining moment in the state’s quest for justice and communal harmony. The proposed legislation, expected to be introduced in the two-day special Assembly session beginning July 10, 2025, lays down the strongest ever legal framework against religious desecration in the state’s history. With a provision for life imprisonment—and possibly capital punishment—for those found guilty of sacrilegious acts, this initiative by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann’s Aam Aadmi Party-led government reflects both public sentiment and political resolve in a state deeply scarred by past episodes of religious unrest.
What makes this bill particularly significant is its context. Over the last decade, sacrilege incidents—especially those involving the Guru Granth Sahib—have triggered intense public outrage and even violent confrontations. The 2015 Bargari sacrilege case and the subsequent police firing at Behbal Kalan still haunt Punjab’s collective memory. In this backdrop, CM Mann’s government has chosen to act with a legislative blueprint that not only punishes individual offenders but also targets broader consequences—such as riots and deaths triggered by sacrilegious acts.
This isn’t the first time a government in Punjab has attempted such legislation. The Akali Dal-BJP government in 2016 and the Congress regime under Captain Amarinder Singh in 2018 both tried to enact similar laws. However, both bills failed to receive the President’s assent due to constitutional concerns, including the potential violation of India’s secular principles and ambiguity in defining sacrilege. This time, the Punjab government plans to draft the bill within the legal framework of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), India’s new criminal code. The state hopes this shift will allow them to address the legal concerns that blocked earlier attempts.
Crucially, this proposed bill goes beyond just punishing the act of sacrilege. It includes stringent provisions for situations where such acts lead to civil unrest. If a sacrilegious act results in violence, loss of life, or damage to public property, the punishment can be escalated to life imprisonment. It also suggests penal accountability for guardians if the accused is a minor or dependent, expanding the legal responsibility to families or caretakers in such cases. This reflects a growing concern in Punjab about the exploitation of vulnerable individuals in orchestrated religious provocations.
Legal advisors and constitutional experts have reportedly been engaged to ensure that the bill is both robust and defensible. Advocate General Vinod Ghai and senior legal officers are helping draft the bill to avoid the fate of its predecessors. According to Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema, the new bill is expected to be both “uncompromising in spirit and constitutionally compliant in structure,” signaling a new level of legal sophistication in tackling communal tensions.
Meanwhile, grassroots movements have also added pressure. One prominent case is Gurjeet Singh Khalsa, who has been on protest atop a BSNL tower in Samana for nearly nine months, demanding the death penalty for sacrilege convicts. His vigil has galvanized public discourse and added symbolic weight to the government’s legislative urgency. Religious bodies across communities have also voiced strong support, urging the government to act decisively.
However, the proposed bill has not been without criticism. Civil liberties groups and legal scholars have warned that the language around sacrilege remains vague and open to interpretation. There is concern that such a law could be used selectively or to suppress dissent. Additionally, the proposal to include the death penalty raises ethical and constitutional questions, particularly in a secular democracy like India.
Still, for a state that has borne witness to repeated sacrilegious attacks and the emotional trauma they cause, the demand for deterrent justice remains widespread. By choosing to legislate through a specially tailored law anchored in the BNS, the Mann government appears to be betting that this time, legal and moral legitimacy will align.
As Punjab’s Assembly prepares to debate this bill, all eyes are on whether this new legislation can finally achieve what previous efforts couldn’t—offer closure to past wounds and protect religious sanctity through the rule of law.
This is a web-generated news report.
