Punjab: AAP Govt’s New Anti-Sacrilege Law Draws Flak as Victims of 2015 Cases Still Await Justice

Jalandhar: When Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supremo Arvind Kejriwal assured justice against culprits of 2015 sacrilege cases, people in Punjab not only believed him, they also gave his party a resounding victory in Punjab. Kejriwal, then riding high on the AAP wave in Punjab, had promised justice within 48 hours of coming to power. However, four-and-a-half years later, while the sacrilege cases have been transferred out of Punjab and to Chandigarh, the AAP government, on April 13, the day of Vaisakhi, passed a new law – the Jaagat Jot Sri Guru Granth Sahib Act, 2026 – which amends the 2008 Act by the same name.

This is the third anti-sacrilege bill brought by different state governments in the past 11 years. The move comes as parties have started gearing up for the Punjab assembly elections 2027. 

While several governments have made similar attempts in the past, it was Punjab governor Gulab Chand Kataria’s swift assent to the new law on April 20 that drew the scholars, historians and the opposition’s attention, with many terming it as a tacit understanding between the AAP and the BJP.

What are the amendments?

Detailing the provisions, Chief minister Bhagwant Mann termed the amended law as a “historic correction” and promised swift action, punishment up to life imprisonment, and a penalty up to Rs 20 lakh under the newly notified law.

Mann said, “The Jaagat Jot Sri Guru Granth Sahib Satkar Act, 2008, has been now amended as the Jaagat Jot Sri Guru Granth Sahib Satkar (Amendment) Bill, 2026, to promote communal harmony and national unity and to provide stricter punishments, including life imprisonment, for acts of desecration.”

The Act extends liability to ‘guardians’ if the accused individual is mentally incapacitated. “Most of the time, it has been noticed that the perpetrator of this act pretends to be mentally upset, but the act stipulates that even the ‘guardians’ of such a person will be booked for this unpardonable crime,” Mann said. 

It also introduces the definition of ‘custodian’, making them “fully responsible” for the safe custody, protection, and prevention of misuse or loss.

“Punishments have been enhanced with a fine up to Rs 20 lakh and imprisonment is up to life. Offences have been categorised into five types as violation of provisions of the Act will invite punishment up to 5 years imprisonment and Rs 10 lakh fine,” he said, noting that the offences will be non-bailable and non-compoundable. 

He further said that “desecration of the holy scripture will be liable for 7 to 20 years imprisonment and fine ranging to Rs 2-10 lakh. Further, desecration with intent to disturb social or religious harmony will invite punishment of 10 years to life imprisonment and Rs 5-20 lakh fine.”

Abetment also carries similar punishment, he announced, while an attempt to commit offence will be liable for three to five years of imprisonment and Rs 1-3 lakh as fine.

Past anti-sacrilege bills and a 'tower' protest

Several attempts have been made by three consecutive governments in Punjab to introduce an anti-sacrilege law – the first of which was made by the previous Shiromani Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party (SAD-BJP) government.

The SAD-BJP government brought in the Jaagat Jot Sri Guru Granth Sahib Satkar Act, 2008, which made the basis for the latest amendment. It was aimed at the prevention of printing, publication, and distribution of Guru Granth Sahib by any person other than the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) to maintain its sanctity according to Sikh Rehat Maryada (Code of Ethics).

While it was a bid to stop sacrilege incidents, the Act lacked specific provisions addressing sacrilege. The only idea of the 2008 law was to ensure full control and command of SGPC over the publication and distribution of GGS.

A few years later, when sacrilege incidents were at a peak and led to mass protests by the Sikh groups and locals across Punjab, the SAD-BJP introduced Indian Penal Code (Punjab Amendment) Bill, 2016, to combat sacrilege cases. However, the Bill did not get the President's assent.

Then, as the Captain Amarinder Singh led-Congress government came to power in 2017, he introduced two bills – Indian Penal Code (Punjab Amendment) Bill, 2018, and the Code of Criminal Procedure (Punjab Amendment) Bill, 2018, which mandated a punishment of up to life imprisonment for injury, damage, or sacrilege to Guru Granth Sahib, the Bhagvad Geeta, Quran Shareef and the Bible. 

Both these bills, too, failed to get the President's assent, and were returned. Moreover, Captain started facing more criticism from the opposition over the delay in justice in the sacrilege cases.

Finally came the AAP government with a landslide victory margin in 2022. The AAP first introduced The Punjab Prevention of Offences Against Holy Scripture(s) Bill, 2025, last year, which was sent to a select committee for deliberations, the duration for which has been extended by another six months.

Before further clarity on that, however, they introduced a new anti-sacrileges law.

Amid the years-long issue, an ex-Army jawan-turned-activist Gurjeet Singh Khalsa also led a unique protest atop a 400-foot BSNL tower for 560 days in Samana, Patiala, demanding a strict sacrilege law.

Khalsa started his protest on October 12, 2024, and remained atop the tower, about 150-foot-high, for 18 months. He had put up a tent there.

Khalsa was finally brought down by the local administration, with help from the Army and the fire brigade, on April 24, after the new Act was notified as it met his core demand for stricter legal provisions.

Opposition to the new law

Sikh scholars and historians have questioned the AAP government’s decision to bring about a new Act while the one sent to the select committee is still in limbo.

“Instead of giving justice in the 2015 sacrilege cases, the AAP government fled away from its responsibility and blindly brought yet another anti-sacrilege bill. The AAP government should bring a detailed white paper on action taken in 2015 sacrilege cases to the Maur bomb blasts,” said former Akal Takht head Giani Harpreet Singh in a post on X.

The Sacrilege Act has also been challenged in the Punjab and Haryana high court after a Jalandhar resident, Simranjeet Singh, filed a public interest litigation stating that the impugned Act did not yet have presidential assent under Article 254(2) of the Indian Constitution.

The petitioner raised the issue of violation of Article 14 of the Indian constitution and the principle of secularism. He stated that the exclusive high-penalty framework in the Act was solely for the saroops of Sri Guru Granth Sahib.

“By excluding other religious scriptures, the state has failed the test of equality before law and violated the basic structure of the constitution – secularism,” the petition read.

‘AAP promised us justice, not a new Act’

Behind the series of bills to contain desecration cases in Punjab lies the first sacrilege incident on June 1, 2015, when pages of Sri Guru Granth Sahib went missing from Burj Jawahar Singh Wala village, and were later found scattered on the streets of Bargari village situated in Kotkapura district.

Enraged, hundreds of Sikhs, including religious and social groups, led mass protests across the state. The police opened fire on protesting Sikhs, leading to the death of two persons in Behbal Kalan village in Faridkot district.

Speaking to The Wire, Sukhraj Singh, whose father, Krishan Bhagwan Singh, was killed in 2015 during the police firing in Behbal Kalan, said, “The AAP came to power with the promise of providing justice in the sacrilege cases, not to bring yet another anti-sacrilege bill.” 

He further raised concern that the Act was applicable only for future sacrilege cases. “No where has the government mentioned that it will provide justice in the previous sacrilege cases of 2015, which was their poll promise,” he said, noting that had the AAP government been serious about providing justice, they would have taken up the Behbal Kalan firing case soon after coming to power. 

“It is nothing but a formality and a face-saving exercise by the AAP leadership before the Punjab Assembly polls,” he added.

The AAP government had also promised to examine the 1986 Nakodar firing case, which also pertained to the sacrilege of Sri Guru Granth Sahib, and led to the killing of four Sikh youths. This promise too, Singh said, remained unfulfilled. “The government’s intention is to run away from accountability in the name of justice,” he alleged.

‘Growing state influence over Sikh religious matters’

In a recent article in The Tribune, SGPC member Kiranjot Kaur questioned the Punjab governor’s swift assent to the Act, calling it a sign of “growing state influence over Sikh religious matters”.

She wrote, “The lightning speed with which the Governor of Punjab gave his assent to the Bill raised eyebrows. It could be competitive political positioning of the BJP. It suits the broader strategy of the BJP of assimilating Sikhs and reinterpreting their history to their political advantage.”

Referring to Section 6 of the Act, she said it effectively shields the state: “No suit, prosecution or other legal proceedings shall lie against the State government or its officers or officials… thereby giving them a free hand.” She also warned that the state interpreting aspects of the Sikh Rehat Maryada blurs the line between governance and faith.

Despite being a member herself, she criticised the SGPC for backing the Act, writing, “The silence of the SGPC over this issue is deafening. The act hands over power to the state government to monitor printing, storage and distribution of the ‘Bir(s)’ (copy of the Guru Granth Sahib)… making the custodians sitting ducks for harassment!”

Kiranjot is the granddaughter of Master Tara Singh, the founder of SGPC. On whether the Act can bring closure to the Bargari sacrilege case, she added that it will “certainly not”.

‘An escape route for AAP,’ says Professor Sekhon

Jagrup Singh Sekhon, renowned columnist and former professor at the Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, termed the latest Act introduced by CM Bhagwant Mann as a purely political attempt to escape responsibility of law and order in the state. 

“It is an ‘escape route’ for the CM Mann led AAP government. The AAP government introduced the bill, so that they do not have to work on the previous sacrilege cases,” he told The Wire.

Sekhon added that the Punjab government was trying to get a political dividend out of this bill whereas they have failed on different fronts. 

“The AAP government failed to maintain even the minimum law and order in the state, as broad daylight murders were taking place every second day. They fared poorly in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and managed to win merely three seats while their performance in the urban bodies election was also not impressive. Even the Block Samiti elections were held under the supervision of high court appointed observers,” he added. 

He cited examples of Islamic countries using blasphemy laws for their own political survival and silencing political and social criticism arising from such policies. 

“In Pakistan, an ex-Punjab governor was assassinated for defending a Christian woman accused of blasphemy,” he said, adding that Punjab has suffered badly from the deadly mixture of religion and politics in the past.

‘Attempt to divert public attention’

Chandigarh-based senior journalist Manpreet Randhawa, who has worked with the AAP’s media team in its initial years, said that there was no need for an ant-sacrilege law, when a similar attempt was already made by the SAD-BJP government in 2008. 

“It was completely unnecessary. Now that the Punjab assembly elections are due, the AAP government has turned to this tactic to cover up their failure,” he said, adding that both AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal and CM Bhagwant Mann had failed to provide justice in the sacrilege cases of 2015. 

Randhawa said that the AAP government’s adventure of bringing yet another sacrilege act was recently challenged through a PIL by an individual in the Punjab and Haryana high court. “The PIL is totally valid, as the sacrilege act passed by the Bhagwant Mann cabinet does not talk about other religions”, he said.

Randhawa also pointed out that the conviction rate in sacrilege cases in Punjab was just 7%. “In the past 10 years, 597 cases of sacrilege took place in Punjab out of which 480 were of Guru Granth Sahib, 92 of Bhagavad Gita, 14 of Quran Sharif and 11 of Bible,” he noted, adding that the Mann government failed to even define ‘sacrilege’ in the new Act, which renders the entire exercise worthless.

“Had they been serious, they would have acted against the culprits and set a precedent in such cases,” he said. 

'Mere vote politics'

Sikh scholar and political commentator Malvinder Mali, who has worked with former SGPC chief Gurcharan Singh Tohra, termed the Act as mere vote politics, and said that with it, CM Mann has shut the doors on the sacrilege cases of 2015. 

“The AAP government has replaced the previous sacrilege bill of 2025 and brought a new one. Their agenda is to wipe out sacrilege cases of 2015 and expel Kunwar Vijay Partap Singh, the ex-IPS turned AAP legislator from the party,” he said, adding that the newly passed Act was violating the philosophy of Sikhism. 

Kunwar Vijay Partap was the poster boy of AAP during the 2022 assembly polls, as he headed the SIT in the 2015 sacrilege cases. However, he was suspended from the party after he started criticising the government.

Mali has previously questioned the silence of the Sikh intellectuals over the sacrilege Act and said this would give more autonomy to CM The Bhagwant Mann-led AAP government in Punjab over the religious control of SGPC.

“Now, Sikh religious practices and beliefs would be held under the Punjab government’s supervision,” he added. 

Previously, Mali has criticised the BJP for trying to play a communal card through this Act.

This was after BJP Punjab president Sunil Jakhar had demanded that the Punjab government should pass a law in the state assembly to prevent sacrilege of consecrated idols and religious texts of all faiths, including Hinduism, as divisive forces have been involved in such condemnable acts in recent times.

Mali noted that there seems to be a tacit understanding between the AAP-led Punjab government and the BJP, as the sacrilege Act was passed by the governor without any hassle. 

“In fact, the governor stated he was shown the draft of the sacrilege bill before it was introduced in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha,” Mali said. 

“This will set a dangerous precedent,” he added.

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