Anti-sacrilege bill likely to tabled in Punjab Assembly

A draft bill seeking stricter punishment for acts of sacrilege is likely to be introduced in the Punjab Assembly on Monday (July 14, 2025), sources said.

Ahead of the third day of the special session of the State Assembly, a Cabinet meeting was held here in which the anti-sacrilege bill was given nod by the council of ministers, the sources said.

The draft bill may propose life imprisonment for sacrilege acts against religious scriptures, sources said.

There may also be a provision for setting up special courts to deal with cases pertaining to desecration of scriptures. There will be no parole for those guilty of sacrilege acts, they further said.

Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann had earlier said the State Government would seek the opinion of all stakeholders and religious bodies for the proposed legislation, indicating it would not be enacted immediately.

"We are drafting it. A law is going to be enacted. But for this, we will talk to stakeholders, religious organisations. We will present the draft legislation [in the Assembly].

"But for the final draft, we will require time. After presenting it in the Vidhan Sabha, we will seek public opinion," he had said.

"We will speak to religious bodies about how the law should be. We will take the (draft) bill to the public to seek their opinion for any amendments," he had then said.

Mr. Mann had said the government would consult leading legal experts to ensure that a robust State legislation is enacted - one that prevents offenders from evading strict consequences, including the possibility of capital punishment for such heinous crimes.

Reaffirming his government's commitment to justice, Mr. Mann had stated that every person involved in these sacrilegious acts, either directly or indirectly, would face exemplary punishment.

Mr. Mann had highlighted that while the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) provides clear provisions regarding religious places, it remains silent on holy 'granths'.

He had also said that as the subject falls under the concurrent list, the State has the authority to enact such legislation, and legal opinions would be sought accordingly.

Previous attempts at increasing punishment for act of sacrilege

It is not the first time that a law was being brought in the State for stricter punishment for perpetrators of sacrilege acts.

In 2016, the then SAD-BJP government brought in the IPC (Punjab Amendment) Bill, 2016 and CrPC (Punjab Amendment) Bill, 2016 recommending life sentence for sacrilege acts against Guru Granth Sahib. The Centre later returned the bill, saying all religions should be treated equally given the secular nature of the Constitution.

In 2018, the Amarinder Singh government had passed two bills — the Indian Penal Code (Punjab Amendment) Bill, 2018', and 'the Code of Criminal Procedure (Punjab Amendment) Bill 2018', which stipulated a punishment of up to life imprisonment for injury, damage or sacrilege to Guru Granth Sahib, Bhagavad Gita, Quran and the Bible.

However, the two Bills did not get the President's assent.

Acts of sacrilege against religious scriptures has been an emotive issue in Punjab and there has been a demand from various quarters for stringent punishment for the acts of sacrilege against religious texts.

The incident related to the theft of a 'bir' (copy) of Guru Ganth Sahib from Burj Jawahar Singh Wala gurdwara, putting up handwritten sacrilegious posters in Bargari and Burj Jawahar Singh Wala and torn pages of the holy book found scattered at Bargari, had taken place in Bargari in Faridkot in 2015.

These incidents had led to anti-sacrilege protests in Faridkot. In the police firing at anti-sacrilege protesters in October 2015, two persons were killed in Behbal Kalan while some persons were injured at Kotkapura in Faridkot.