Playing with Fire
A draconian blasphemy law panders to religious sentiments
The Punjab government’s contentious decision to amend existing laws to make acts of desecration of holy scriptures—specifically the Bhagvad Gita, Guru Granth Sahib, Quran and Bible—punishable with life imprisonment, has predictably provoked widespread criticism.
Approved by the Amarinder Singh cabinet on August 21, the Punjab assembly approved the insertion of Section 295 AA in the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) applicable to the state on August 28. It replaces an earlier 2016 legislation that provided for similar penal provisions for the desecration of the Sikh holy book. That bill, introduced by the then Akali Dal-BJP government, was rejected by the Centre in April last year, on the premise that “all religions are to be treated equally”.
The present amendment, which has been criticised as “excessive” and even “dangerous” and “detrimental to minor faiths” has been introduced amid continuing Sikh anger over the nearly 200 incidents of ‘sacrilege’ involving the Guru Granth Sahib.
The incidents started with Bargari village in Faridkot district where several torn pages of the scripture were found scattered on October 12, 2015. Outraged Sikhs, who make up close to 60 per cent of Punjab’s
THERE HAS BEEN ANGER OVER ALLEGED INCIDENTS INVOLVING THE DESECRATION OF HOLY BOOKS
population and revere the Guru Granth Sahib as a living guru, came out on the streets to protest. Initially peaceful, the protests turned intensely violent after October 14, when police killed two protesters in Faridkot’s Behbal Kalan village.
Unnerved, then CM Parkash Singh Badal was forced to replace his DGP and hand the Bargari investigation to the CBI. There has since been ample evidence to show that the Sikh community’s growing anger over Bargari and other incidents of desecration was, and continues to be, fuelled by Pakistan’s ISI and extremist elements in the diaspora. Social media posts depicting the protests and images of the damaged holy scripture are known to have led to the radicalisation of many Sikh youth, both in Punjab and abroad.
The amendment bill approved on August 28, if endorsed by the Centre, will give the state police added muscle to arrest and prosecute offenders. It provides that ‘whoever causes injury, damage or sacrilege to Sri Guru Granth Sahib, Srimad Bhagvad Geeta, Holy Quran and Holy Bible with the intention to hurt the religious feelings of the people, shall be punished with imprisonment for life’.
It is premised on the reasoning that incidents of sacrilege, besides causing hurt to the specific community, also result in disruption of public order. Senior legal experts, however, say the Punjab bill is unlikely to be approved and will eventually meet the same fate as its predecessor, the 2016 bill.