A secular republic’s sacrilege problem
The article examines the legal and constitutional implications of Punjab's new sacrilege law, which mandates life imprisonment for desecrating the Guru Granth Sahib. It argues that such legislation conflicts with India's secular constitutional framework.
Why it matters
This highlights the ongoing tension between religious sentiment and secular governance in India, raising questions about the role of the state in policing religious expression.
I n April 2026, the Governor of Punjab gave his assent to the Jaagat Jot Sri Guru Granth Sahib Satkar (Amendment) Act, which criminalises sacrilege against the Guru Granth Sahib with sentences running as high as life imprisonment. The law arrived almost immediately after passage, closing out a decade of agitation that followed the desecration incidents at Bargari and Burj Jawahar Singh Wala in 2015, and the police firing at Behbal Kalan that killed two protesters. On paper, this looks like routine State legislation responding to genuine communal hurt. In substance, it is India’s most severe working sacrilege law: a statute that punishes the physical desecration of a sacred text with sentences up to and including life.
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