Punjab passes a stricter sacrilege law, the Jaagat Jot Satkar Amendment Act

Who: The Punjab government of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, the Punjab Vidhan Sabha under Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan, and Governor Gulab Chand Kataria. On the other side of the argument stood the Akal Takht's officiating Jathedar, Giani Kuldeep Singh Gargaj, and the SGPC.

What: The cabinet cleared the Jaagat Jot Sri Guru Granth Sahib Satkar (Amendment) Bill, 2026 on April 11. It amends the Satkar Act of 2008. A special Assembly session on Baisakhi, April 13, passed it unanimously, with the Congress, the Akali Dal, the BJP, the BSP and an independent member all backing it. Sacrilege now carries 7 to 20 years in prison and a fine of Rs 2 lakh to Rs 10 lakh. Sacrilege as part of a criminal conspiracy to disturb peace or communal harmony carries 10 years to life and a fine of Rs 5 lakh to Rs 25 lakh. An attempt carries 3 to 5 years. Offences are cognisable and non-bailable, tried in sessions courts, and investigated by officers of DSP or ACP rank. Sacrilege covers wilful physical damage, burning, tearing or theft of the Guru Granth Sahib or its saroops, and also words, signs, visual representations or electronic means that hurt Sikh religious feelings. Mann announced the Governor's assent on April 19. Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema said that as a state law it took effect at once.

Where: Punjab, in a special session of the Vidhan Sabha.

Why it mattered: The law came after the December 2025 FIR over 328 missing saroops and a decade after the 2015 beadbi cases, which the Leader of the Opposition, Partap Singh Bajwa, said still await justice. On April 29 the High Court declined to pass an immediate order on a petition challenging the Act and questioned whether it was maintainable. The Akal Takht said it had no objection to strict punishment. On May 8, after summoning the Speaker, Jathedar Gargaj gave the government 15 days to remove clauses he called objectionable: provisions that bring the Guru Granth Sahib, the SGPC, granthis, gurdwara committees and sewadars under a legal framework, which he called interference in Sikh affairs, and a requirement to make public who holds saroops, which he called impractical and open to misuse. The Akal Takht offered a panel of Sikh legal experts. The Speaker said public suggestions had been invited through newspapers. The later Guru Dokhi declaration and the summoning of Sikh MLAs grew out of this dispute.