AAP leader Raghav Chadha seeks stringent punishment for perpetrators of sacrilege in Punjab

New Delhi [India], December 20 (ANI): Highlighting the increasing incidents of sacrilege in Punjab, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Raghav Chadha moved a Suspension of Business Notice under Rule 267 in the Parliament on Tuesday.

In his bilingual letter to the Chairman, Chadha said that Punjabis all across the world are agitated due to the increasing incidents of sacrilege. “Such insult of the holy book Guru Granth Sahib cannot be tolerated,” he added. He further reiterated the incidents of 2015 when Guru Granth Sahib was burnt in Bargari and Shrimad Bhagwat Geeta in Ludhiana and said that several incidents of disrespect of holy books are coming forward.

“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,” he said mentioning that there is a need to bring a law that grants the strictest punishments to such offenders.

Earlier on December 9, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann called on the Union Home Minister Amit Shah and sought Government intervention for getting Presidential assent for two important pending bills of state stipulating harsher punishment for the perpetrators of the serious crime of sacrilege.

The Chief Minister, who called on Amit Shah here at his office, said that the sacrilege of holy books is a major challenge in the state. He said that in this context, it has been felt that the quantum of punishment for the sacrilege of Holy Books as per existing provisions of Sections 295 and 295-A in the Indian Penal Code is too inadequate, a press release by Punjab CMO dated December 9 said.

Bhagwant Mann apprised the Union Home Minister on that day that the Punjab Vidhan Sabha had passed the Indian Penal Code (Punjab Amendment) Bill, 2018 and the Code of Criminal Procedure (Punjab Amendment) Bill 2018, which stipulates punishment up to life imprisonment for injury, damage or sacrilege to Sri Guru Granth Sahib, Srimad Bhagwat Gita, Holy Quran and Holy Bible with the intention to hurt the religious feelings of the people.