The Punjab Assembly on Monday unanimously passed a bill proposing life imprisonment and a fine up to Rs 25 lakh for any act of “sacrilege” involving the Guru Granth Sahib, The Hindu reported.
The Jaagat Jot Sri Guru Granth Sahib Satkar Amendment Bill 2026 was tabled by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann during a special session of the Assembly. The bill proposes stringent amendments to a 2008 law on sacrilege.
Mann said the amendments address long-standing gaps in the framework left by previous governments.
“If the Sri Guru Granth Sahib is not safe in Punjab, then where else can it be?” the newspaper quoted the Aam Aadmi Party leader as saying. “This bill is a historic milestone to check beadbi [sacrilege]…”
On Saturday, the state Cabinet approved the stringent amendments and cleared the bill. The decision followed several incidents of beadbi, or sacrilege, that have “deeply hurt public sentiments” and caused unrest, the government stated.
It said that existing provisions under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, including Section 298, Section 299 and Section 300, “do not prescribe sufficiently stringent punishment to act as an effective deterrent”.
Section 298 penalises damaging or defiling a place of worship or sacred object with the intent to insult a religion. While Section 299 pertains to deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings, Section 300 deals with causing disturbance to a lawful religious assembly or ceremony.
Stronger legal measures were required to safeguard the sanctity of the religious scripture and promote communal harmony, the government added.
The proposed amendment came amid long-standing demands in the state for stricter laws punishing such acts. Attempts in 2016 and 2018 to introduce similar legislation, including provisions for life imprisonment, did not become law as they either failed to receive a presidential assent or had lapsed.
State government data showed that nearly 597 cases of “sacrilege” were reported in the past decade, including 480 involving Sikh scriptures and shrines, 92 related to Hindu religious sites, 14 to Muslim shrines and texts and 11 to Christian places of worship.
Only 44 of the first information reports resulted in convictions.
Also read: A man on a cellphone tower in Punjab is at centre of gathering protest for anti-sacrilege law
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