Amid recent sacrilege incidents in Punjab, Deputy Chief Minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa on Monday urged the Union government to give nod to the State’s suggested amendments to law for including stringent provisions.
The Punjab government has asked the Centre to give approval to The Code of Criminal Procedure (Punjab Amendment) Bill, 2018 and The Indian Penal Code (Punjab Amendment) Bill, 2018 to ensure stringent punishment to those perpetrating the heinous crime of sacrilege of holy books.
In a letter to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Mr. Randhawa said, “I want to bring to your notice that sacrilege of holy books is becoming a major issue in Punjab. Shri Guru Granth Sahib is considered a living Guru and not an object by the Sikhs and it is accorded respect according to Sikh maryada. In this context, it was felt that the existing provisions of Section 295 and 295-A of the Indian Penal Code-1860 which provide for a punishment of up to three years are inadequate to deal with this situation. So, the Punjab Vidhan Sabha passed ‘The Indian Penal Code (Punjab Amendment) Bill, 2018 and The Code of Criminal Procedure (Punjab Amendment) Bill 2018’, which provide for punishment up to life imprisonment for whoever causing damage or sacrilege to Shri Guru Granth Sahib, Srimad Bhagavad Gita, the Holy Koran and the Holy Bible with the intention to hurt the religious feelings of the people.”
“These Bills were given assent by the Governor on 12-09-2018. However these Bills are pending for the assent of the President since October 2018. Punjab being a border State, it is extremely necessary to maintain communal harmony here. For this, deterrent punishment is a must for those trying to disturb communal harmony by indulging in the sacrileges. So, I again request that the presidential assent for the said Bills may kindly be obtained and conveyed to the State government at the earliest possible,” he added.
Meanwhile, Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal said the Congress government was playing politics on the sensitive issue of sacrilege. “The very fact that the Congress government had not proceeded to bring the sacrilege perpetrators to book had emboldened them and this was why more such incidents were happening. The Congress has not learnt any lesson. Even now it has ordered a police inquiry into the recent incidents of sacrilege instead of giving the case to a sitting high court judge [judicial probe] to get to the bottom of the entire conspiracy,” he said.
