The Aam Aadmi Party government in Punjab is proposing to enact a new law against sacrilege punishable with death penalty. Although it will not be for the first time that the state government is planning to enact a law for harsher punishment against sacrilege, the provision of death penalty is new.
Earlier, the Shiromani Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party government enacted a similar law, with a penalty of life imprisonment. But the law was specific to the sacrilege of the holy Guru Granth Sahib. The bill was returned by the Centre on the pretext that a law cannot be specific to a particular religion.
The next Congress government slightly amended the law in 2018 by including the holy scriptures of all religions, but was awaiting the Presidential assent. Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann had reportedly met Union Home Minister Amit Shah in 2022 for the Presidential assent to the law, which never came.
The Centre later reportedly returned the bill asking the state government to enact it under the Bhartiya Nyay Samhita, which has apparently necessitated a fresh legislation. The AAP government, apparently wanting to be seen as stricter and firmer against sacrilege than its predecessors, is proposing to add death penalty as punishment while the previous legislations had sought life imprisonment only.
It has been about 11 years since the first incident of the sacrilege of the Guru Granth Sahib was reported from Bargari in Faridkot district of Punjab, on October 12, 2014. Since then, it has been a third different government in power in the state. Yet, there is no conclusive clue about the real culprits behind the outrageous act.
Initially, when the sacrilege incidents were reported in 2014, Sukhbir Badal, who was the state deputy chief minister and head of the Home Department, had blamed the foreign elements for the sacrilege to create unrest in Punjab. Two youths were arrested and were alleged to have received foreign friends. But the public was not convinced about the government explanation and wanted the “real” culprits to be punished.
While a section of people pointed a finger of suspicion on the members of a prominent Dera, there has, so far, not been any conclusive evidence about it. Some of the Dera supporters have also been killed during this period on the suspicion of being involved in sacrilege.
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Even after 11 years, the sacrilege remains a highly emotive issue. Both the Congress and the AAP exploited the issue to the hilt ahead of the 2017 Assembly elections, which saw Congress forming the government after 10 years winning seven seats and AAP claiming 20 seats in Punjab Assembly in its maiden attempt. Ruling Akali Dal was reduced to 15 seats in 2017 and almost wiped out in 2022 with just three seats.
Again, during the 2022 Assembly election campaign, the AAP put the Congress on the defensive since its government had also failed to deliver justice in the sacrilege cases as promised. The AAP inducted a Punjab-cadre IPS officer Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh, who had conducted a thorough investigation into the sacrilege incident. His report was, however, rejected by the Punjab and Haryana High Court, as he was seen to be playing to the gallery.
His joining the AAP gave the party a boost and raised expectations across Punjab that it may deliver justice in the matter. Kunwar Vijay Pratap, otherwise a native of Bihar, got elected as an MLA on AAP ticket from Amritsar North. Eventually, he got disillusioned with his own government and started criticising it. He was recently suspended from the primary membership of the party for five years.
Realising the explosive potential of the issue, coupled with the suspension of Kunwar Vijay Pratap, who is seen as one of the few honest officers who tried to conduct a fair investigation into the sacrilege cases, the AAP government convened a sudden and surprise Assembly session for enacting the law with a provision for harsher punishment like death penalty.
It looks like a classic case of too little, too late. People who have felt hurt because of sacrilege are unlikely to get convinced with the process the government has adopted. People have been seeking justice wanting the governments to identify the culprits and punish them under law. No matter how harsh the penalty may be, till the time the guilty are not identified and prosecuted, there is no point in bringing in a law.
Bringing in the provision of death penalty against sacrilege is an extremely harsh step. Even Pakistan, known for zero tolerance in religious matters, particularly in case of disrespect to Prophet Mohammad, has never executed the death penalty although there have been several convictions. Yes, people accused of blasphemy have been summarily executed and lynched. Mere suspicion and accusation of blasphemy in itself is a death warrant in Pakistan as people take law into their own hands and kill the accused and go scot-free.
Former governor of Punjab (Pakistan) province Salman Taseer was shot dead by one of his own security personnel just because he was opposing the death provision in blasphemy laws and was seeking pardon for a poor Christian woman, Asia Bibi who had been condemned to death for blasphemy, based on the allegation of her Muslim neighbour that she disrespected the Prophet. Also, minority affairs minister of Punjab province Shahbaz Bhatti was shot dead for defending Asia.
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That particular woman was, however, saved owing to huge international pressure and a petition with over four lakh signatures seeking mercy for her. Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis also called for her pardon. Eventually, the Supreme Court of Pakistan acquitted her of all the charges after eight years of harsh trial. She and her family were secretly moved out of the country to Canada.
In case Punjab enacts a law against sacrilege with provision of death penalty, it may not be any different from the blasphemy law in Pakistan. The death provision was inserted in the blasphemy law there in the 1980s during the radical Islamic rule of military dictator Gen Zia ul Haq. While nobody, convicted of blasphemy, was sentenced to death by the courts in Pakistan, many unfortunate people were lynched by mobs on the mere allegations and most of them were not even allowed to reach the courts.
While the Punjab government is legally bound to re-enact the law under the provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Samhita, it really does not need to bring in such an extremely harsh provision of death penalty. It can still ensure strict and harsh punishment without resorting to the provision of death penalty. It may create huge headlines for a day, but may have quite an adverse impact in the long run.
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