MLAs’ committee on anti-sacrilege Bill set to hold first meeting today
Days after the Punjab Vidhan Sabha referred the anti-sacrilege Bill to a Select Committee of legislators, the committee — headed by AAP MLA and chairman of Chief Khalsa Diwan Inderbir Singh Nijjar — is all set to hold its first meeting today.
The meeting will be held in the Vidhan Sabha secretariat and has been convened to chalk out the plans of seeking feedback from public as well as religious leaders and heads of religious institutions on the provisions of the new Punjab Prevention of Offences against Holy Scriptures Bill, 2025.
The committee comprises two MLAs from the Congress — Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa and Balwinder Singh, one member each from BJP ( Jangi Lal Mahajan) and SAD (Manpreet Singh Ayali), besides 10 members are from ruling AAP — Ajay Gupta, Amandeep Kaur, Inderjit Kaur Mann, Baljinder Kaur, Nina Mittal, Jagdeep Kamboj, Budh Ram, Brahm Shankar Jimpa, Madan Bagga and Mohammad Jamil-ur-Rehman.
The names of MLAs in the Select Committee were announced by Vidhan Sabha Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan on Saturday. These MLAs will have to come back with the suggestions that they receive from the public, religious leaders and heads of religious institutions, on the Draft Bill within six months.
The Bill, commonly referred to as the Anti Sacrilege Bill, was passed unanimously in Punjab Vidhan Sabha on July 15. The Bill lays down that the punishment for offences related to sacrilege will vary between minimum 10 years to life imprisonment. The Holy Scriptures referred to in this Act are Guru Granth Sahib or extracts thereof, including Pothis and Gutka Sahib, Bhagavad Gita, Quran and Bible.
Those found guilty of sacrilege will also be liable to pay a fine of Rs 5 lakh, which may be extended to Rs 10 lakh. The offences punishable under this Act will be cognisable, non-compoundable and will be tried by a Sessions Court. Only a police officer of the rank of DSP and above will be allowed to investigate the case.
Under the provisions of the Bill, any person who abets to commit an offence (sacrilege, damage, destruction, defacing, decolouring, defining, decomposing, burning, breaking or treating of any holy scripture, or its part) in consequence of an instigation or as part of a conspiracy, will be punished with an imprisonment of three to five years and a fine of up to Rs 3 lakh.
The Act, once passed, will be extended to the whole state of Punjab. It shall come into force on and with effect from the date of its publication in the Official Gazette. This Act will override other enactments and will not be in derogation of the provisions of any other law for the time being in force.
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