Punjab passes sacrilege bill: life imprisonment for disrespect of Guru Granth

In a major reformation in the religious policies, Punjab government on last day cleared a controversial sacrilege bill that demands life term imprisonment for disrespecting Guru Granth Sahib. Reports say that the authorities added two new sections into the Indian Penal Code –section 295AA and 295. Here, the former ensures life imprisonment punishment for disrespecting the Guru Granth. Meanwhile, the latter enhances the punishment for deliberately hurting the religion. According to the information, the deliberate defilers may get a severe punishment term that ranges from two years to ten years. Notably, the opposition leader of Punjab assembly demanded similar punishment for those people who hurts other religions too. He reportedly reminded the house that our country is a secular country so we should give equal importance and privileges to every religion. It is learned that the opposition leader with the congress members staged a brief walk-out when the ruling government tabled the bill. A congress MLA moved a motion demanding same privilege for all religion, but the ruling members defeated the motion. It is said that the cabinet members of the government strongly pushed for the bill after it was extensively deliberated in the recent cabinet meeting. However, it seems that the biased religious policy would threaten the stability of the ruling government which is already facing a row of threats.

Vignesh

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