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AAP’s Raghav Chadha seeks stringent punishment for sacrilege crimes
Chadha recalled old incidents when the Guru Granth Sahib was burnt in Bargari and Shrimad Bhagwat Geeta in Ludhiana in 2015 and mentioned that many other incidents that disrespected holy books were coming to fore
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Raghav Chadha on Tuesday pushed for stringent punishments over sacrilege crimes in Punjab in Rajya Sabha.
Moving a suspension of business notice under rule 267 in the Upper House of the Parliament, the AAP MP highlighted the rampant increase of sacrilege incidents in the state while attesting that the issue is not only worrying the Punjabi community in India but also overseas.
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Chadha recalled old incidents when the Guru Granth Sahib was burnt in Bargari and Shrimad Bhagwat Geeta in Ludhiana in 2015 and mentioned that many other incidents that disrespected holy books were coming to fore.
In his letter to the chairman of the House, Chadha said, “Such insult of the holy book Guru Granth Sahib cannot be tolerated,” adding, there is a need to bring a law that gives the strictest punishment to the offenders.
“The punishments prescribed for such crimes under sections 295 and 295A of the Indian Penal Code are so lenient that the spirits of the ones responsible for it have turned higher. There is a need to enact a law that grants the harshest penalties to such offenders,” the AAP leader said.
Sacrilege cases in Punjab have been one of the major causes of intense political crisis that the state has witnessed ever since the case of Guru Granth Sahib desecration was reported in Faridkot in 2015.
Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) supremo Prakash Singh Badal, who held the role of the Punjab chief minister for five terms, had to give up his seat in 2017 when the SAD touched an all-time low of a mere 15 seats in the 117-member Punjab assembly with accusations hinting that the party did not take proper action against the killings of the two Sikh protests in the 2015 incident.
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This was also the first reported case of sacrilege in Punjab post which more than 160 cases were reported from other districts in the state.
In a recent development, on 14 December, Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann met union home minister Amit Shah and sought the centre’s intervention in getting Presidential assent for two important pending bills by Punjab stipulating harsher punishment for perpetrators of sacrilege.
Mann told Shah that the IPC (Punjab Amendment) Bill, 2018, and the code of criminal procedure (CrPC) (Punjab Amendment) Bill, 2018, which stipulate punishment up to life imprisonment for injury, damage, or sacrilege to the holy books, including Guru Granth Sahib, Bhagavad Gita, Quran and Bible with the intention to hurt the religious feelings of people– were waiting for Presidential assent since 2018 while urging Shah to further look into it.
While critics have noted that strict sacrilege laws can be misused by politicians to harass the opposition at its own will, the centre has asked the Punjab government time and again to reconsider the bill.
