Page 46 - 15SEPT2018E

OPINION
SPOTLIGHT
VIPIN PUBBY
Former resident editor
of The Indian Express,
Vipin Pubby is a senior
journalist based in
Chandigarh. He can
be contacted at
vipinpubby@gmail.
com. The views
expressed are personal
The Bill, first
passed by the
Assembly in 2016,
when the SAD-
BJP government
was in power in
the State, had
proposed life
imprisonment
for sacrilege of
the Guru Granth
Sahib only
TEHELKA / 15 SEPTEMBER 2018 46 WWW.TEHELKA.COM
46-47 Opinion Vipin Pubby.indd 2 9/1/2018
Sacrilege Bill finally gets bill was passed unanimously as again minister Parkash Singh Badal for police sought to be inserted in the law says :
Article 295AA, which has been
action in which two protesters were
none of the parties was willing to be
Punjab Assembly nod seen defending the sacrilege. However, killed. The report said it was “clear that “whoever causes injury, damage or sac-
rilege to Sri Guru Granth Sahib, Srimad
the (then) Chief Minister and the CMO
the Union Home ministry returned
the proposal on the ground that it was
Bhagwad Gita, Holy Quran and Holy
were apparently kept in the loop about
All major parties in Punjab, with an eye on panthic votes, have jointly discriminatory and went against the the action proposed by the police and Bible with the intention to hurt the
religious feelings of the people, shall be
secular character of our constitution.
the action finally taken at Kotkapura.”
passed a Bill seeking to provide stringent punishment to those who By the time the Bill was returned there had probed the sacrilege incidents punished with imprisonment for life”.
The one-man judicial commission
Though the Bill passed by the As-
was a change of government and Capt
injure religious feelings or defile places of worship
Amarinder Singh formed the Congress reported from Burj Jawahar Singh sembly was whetted by senior lawyers,
government in the state.
it is unlikely to have smooth passage
Wala, Bargari, Gurusar and Mallke vil-
ll major parties in Punjab, after police opened fire on them. Even during the run up to the elec- lages and police firing at Behbal Kalan with the Centre. It had earlier returned
particularly the Congress The government was at its wit’s end tions, Capt Amarinder had made clear and Kotkapura on Sikh protesters in the Bill passed by the Assembly in
and the Shiromani Akali as the incidents were spreading to other that he would do a “better job” than the 2015. The report recommended action 2016 with two objections : One that it
Dal, have a holier than areas. While there were allegations that Akalis to protect the “Sikh maryada”. against police officers responsible for was not secular in nature and pro-
thou attitude when it members of the Dera Sacha Sauda could While SAD believes that it represents failure to control the situation. The vided punishment only if the sacrilege
A comes to protecting Sikh be behind the incidents, no such charge the Sikhs, Capt Amarinder Singh had report, which has been rejected by involved Guru Granth Sahib. Secondly
maryada or tenets of Sikhism. They have was proved. There was only an appre- been criticising the Akalis for being lax. the Akalis as an instance of political it had pointed out that the punishment
been competing with each other obvi- hension that this was the result of the To ‘prove’ his commitment to eliminate vendetta, has been forwarded to the of life imprisonement for 10 years for
ously to garner the panthic votes which faux pas over the grant of pardon to her the menace of drugs from Punjab, Capt administration to initiate action. even the first offence was too harsh.
constitute a massive vote bank in the Dera chief, Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh Amarinder had even taken a public The previous government had While the current Assembly has
state. Its latest reflection is found in the who was last year convicted to 20 years oath by placing his hand over a Gutka. handed over inquiry into the series of sought to circumvent the first objection
Punjab Assembly passing a Bill seeking in prison for rape of two sadhvis. The SAD too had become more incidents of sacrilege to the CBI but the by including holy books from other
to provide stringent punishment to those He was at the Centre of controversy strident in its attempts to maintain Amarinder government has decided religions as well, it has sought to main-
who injure religious feelings or defile over Sikh religious issues and the Sikh its hegemony over the SGPC and the to take back the investigations back tain the punishment as provided in the
places of worship. Since none of the clergy had excommunicated him from Sikh clergy. Of late, however, there from the CBI and create its own Special previous bill.
parties could afford to be seen opposing the community for alleged acts of blas- have been indications of the panthic Investigation Team to expeditiously Independent thinkers and those
such an amendment, the Bill was passed phemy. The Dera had a huge following vote moving away from it. The party Investigate and bring guilty to book. keen on strengthening democracy
unanimously. and the political leaders from various had been making attempts to ensure SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal believe that the new law, if given the
The Indian Penal Code (Punjab parties had been going to the Dera to that only the baptised Sikhs could vote has said that the “real motive of the green flag by the Centre, can lead to
Amendment) Bill, which was passed by seek his ‘blessings’. for the SGPC and had taken help of its report is to render the Sikh community serious consequences on the freedoms
the Punjab Assembly, seeks to insert Sec- Evidently with this in mind, and at coalition partner at the Centre, the BJP, leaderless. It’s a cheap drama written, guaranteed by the constitution and
tion 295AA, and sought to amend Section the direction of the SAD which controls to bring in an amendment to debar produced, directed and choreographed that it would put the clock back on the
295, which provides for punishing those the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak non baptised Sikhs from voting for the by Capt Amarinder Singh and his march of the civilisation. They point
“injuring or defiling place of worship, Committee (SGPC), the Mini Parliament organisation. The matter is now under men”. It is in the light of the continued out that there would be ample scope
or any object held sacred by any class of the Sikhs, and which in turn controls judicial scrutiny. slugfest and Capt Amarinder wanting for misuse of the law and that it could
Capt Amarinder Singh, who led the
of persons with the intention to insult the Sikh clergy, decided to ‘pardon’ the Congress to victory last year, didn’t to be seen “more Akali than the Akalis” prove counter productive.
that the latest move to amend the law
their religion, or with the knowledge that Dera chief and take him back in the com-
such destruction, damage or defilement munity. This ‘pardon’ had led to a major forget his demand for punishment to on sacrilege has been proposed. LETTERS@TEHELKA.COM
would be considered as an insult to their
those involved in the series of incidents
uproar among the Sikh community. The
religion”. The amendment provides for fundamentalists and the hardliners took of sacrilege in 2015 and set up a judicial
imprisonment for 10 years to those found strong objection and led protests against commission to probe the incidents.
the action of the Sikh clergy.
guilty.
The report presented in the Punjab
The Bill, first passed by the assembly in Subsequently the ‘pardon’ was with- Assembly recently indicted the previ-
2016, when the previous Shiromani Akali drawn due to the mounting protests ous government and asserted that the
former chief minister Parkash Singh
Dal — Bhartiya Janata Party Government and it was under these circumstances
was in power in the State, had proposed that incidents of sacrilege began getting Badal was aware of the tension build-
life imprisonment for sacrilege of the reported from certain areas of the state. ing up and yet his government did not
take adequate steps to check violence
Guru Granth Sahib only, following a
The incidents were certainly motivated
series of incidents of desecration of the and choreographed by some people or prevent police firing in which two
holy book in different parts of the State. or organisations to vitiate the peaceful villagers were killed.
Justice Ranjit Singh (retd) com-
atmosphere prevailing in the state. This
The spate of cases of desecrations began
in late 2015 and carried on for a couple forced the government to bring in the mission into sacrilege incidents and
of months. Two persons, who had been
subsequent police firing in 2015 in
Bill to provide stringent punishment
protesting the incidents, were also killed to those indulging in blasphemy. The Punjab pointed a finger at former chief
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