Overview

• The special two-day session of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha on July 11 saw the draft Bill introduced with penalties ranging from a minimum of 10 years’ imprisonment up to life terms for desecrating holy scriptures.
• Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann ruled out the death penalty as “too strong a punishment” and referred the legislation to a committee of legal experts and religious stakeholders.
• Provisions in the draft include holding parents liable for juvenile offenders and explicitly protecting the Guru Granth Sahib under state law separate from the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
• Gurjeet Singh Khalsa’s ongoing protest atop a BSNL tower since October 2024 demanding stricter sacrilege laws has applied sustained public pressure on the government.
• Opposition leaders from the BJP and Congress have accused the AAP administration of using the sacrilege issue to divert attention from law-and-order and fiscal challenges.