Scoring populist brownie points
Punjab’s efforts to criminalise blasphemy further is dangerous
In what seems a clear attempt to pander to religious sensibilities, the Punjab government has sought a state-specific amendment to make the country’s blasphemy law under Section 295 of the IPC more stringent. Currently, it prescribes two years punishment for “injuring or defiling a place of worship with intent to insult the religion of any class.” The
Amarinder Singh cabinet, on Tuesday, approved amendments to the CRPC and IPC, making the desecration of religious texts punishable with life in Punjab. It made the case for the insertion of Section 295 AA, providing 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”. Criminalising the blasphemy law further is fraught with danger and it needs to undergo much more legal scrutiny before it is pushed through, if at all.
The context and timing of the Bill has more to do with scoring populist brownie points in a state where religion and politics mingle ceaselessly. The Bill was first enacted by the previous Akali DAL-BJP government as a desperate damage-control exercise in the wake of Sikh rage over a rash of desecrations of the Sikh holy book in 2015. The amendment at that time specifically sought life imprisonment for desecration of Guru Granth Sahib and a 10-year term for that of other religious texts. But the home ministry returned the Bill saying it would violate the constitutional principle of secularism and was “excessive in law”. It is no coincidence that the Bill’s presentation in the assembly on August 24 has been timed with the tabling of the panel report which squarely blames the previous government for the past incidents.
Harsh blasphemy laws in other countries have been brazenly misused to settle political scores and silence opponents. They also feed religious frenzy as we have seen in our neighbourhood. The only redeeming aspect is that Punjab’s Bill will have go through central scrutiny.