The anti-sacrilege bill introduced in the Punjab Assembly in July poses a grave threat to constitutional values and “goes against the very grain of a secular polity”, said a group of 79 former bureaucrats on Wednesday.
In a letter, the Constitutional Conduct Group also asked the Chairperson of the Select Committee of the Punjab Legislative Assembly to recommend that the 2025 Punjab Prevention of Offences Against Holy Scripture(s) Bill be withdrawn.
Introduced by the Aam Aadmi Party government on July 15, the bill proposes life imprisonment and a fine of up to Rs 10 lakh for acts of sacrilege against religious scriptures, including the Guru Granth Sahib, the Bhagavad Gita, the Bible and the Quran.
The bill has been referred to a select committee of legislators for consultation with stakeholders.
The former bureaucrats, in a letter to the chairperson of the select committee, argued that the bill is a regressive move that undermines freedom of expression.
“Instead of circumscribing the role of religion in matters of the state, the proposed Act will only enlarge it,” they warned. “It will also reinforce sectarian tendencies and strengthen the hands of religious extremists of various hues.”
The signatories pointed out that previous attempts by the Punjab government in 2015 and 2018 to introduce similar laws had failed to withstand constitutional scrutiny.
The letter describes the draft law as abandoning “basic jurisprudential safeguards of criminal justice,” particularly by omitting the requirement of mens rea, or a deliberate intention to commit a crime, for acts that could be accidental or unintentional.
The group also highlighted that blasphemy laws in theocratic states across the world have often been “deployed against religious and other minorities and weaker sections to demoralise and subjugate them and also to settle personal and political scores”.
In Punjab, where marginalised communities follow sects outside dominant orthodoxies, such a law could exacerbate communal tensions, they warned.
The former bureaucrats also said that the bill lacks clear definitions. “The term ‘sacrilege’ is undefined and the definition of ‘Holy Scriptures’ is open-ended, speaking of ‘Scriptures considered sacred and held as ‘Holy’ by respective religious denominations’,” the group pointed out.
The former officers also argued that the existing provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita are sufficient to deal with such offences.
The letter further noted the consequences of pandering to religious sentiment in the past.
“The nation has already paid a heavy price for our past sins of pandering to extremist sentiments of various religions for short-term political ends,” it stated. “The empowerment of sectarian and illiberal ideas has resulted in the targeting of minorities and a general increase in social disharmony.”
The signatories to the statement include Punjab’s former director general of police Julio Ribeiro, Delhi’s former Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung and former Indian Administrative Service officer Harsh Mander.
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