Punjab Assembly passes Bill seeking life sentence for sacrilege of religious texts

The amendments would need the assent of the President.

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh.

Punjab state Assembly on Tuesday unanimously passed Bills for an amendment to the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPc) to make sacrilege of all religious texts punishable with life imprisonment.

The Indian Penal Code (Punjab Amendment) Bill, 2018, which was passed has inserted Section 295AA to the IPC to provide that, “whoever causes injury, damage or sacrilege to Sri Guru Granth Sahib, Srimad Bhagwad Gita, Holy Quran and Holy Bible with the intention to hurt the religious feelings of the people, shall be punished with imprisonment for life.”

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The Bill further states ''In the Indian Penal Code, 1860, in its application to the state of Punjab, in section 295, for the words ''two years'', the words ''ten years'' shall be substituted.

Chief Minister Capt. Amarinder Singh in the statement said that in the recent past there have been attempts to disturb peace and communal harmony in the State by committing sacrilege of Sri Guru Granth Sahib, Srimad Bhagwad Gita and Holy Quran. The government is determined not to allow such incidents and ensure deterrent action against all those who commit such sacrilege. The proposed Indian Penal Code (Punjab Amendment) Bill, 2018, aim to achieve this objective by providing punishment of life imprisonment for such acts of sacrileges.

The Code of Criminal Procedure (Punjab Amendment) Bill, 2018 provides to insert section 295AA ''injuring, causing any damage or sacrilege to Sri Guru Granth Sahib, Srimad Bhagwad Gita, Holy Quran and Holy Bible with an intention to hurt the religious feeling of the people.''

The amendments would need the assent of the President. Under the existing Section 295A, punishment is for a maximum of three years imprisonment with or without fine.