Akal Takht asks Punjab to take back sacrilege law

AMritsar:The Akal Takht on fri officially rejected the latterly enacted controversial young sacrilege move, which provides life imprisonment and a fine of up to ₹25 lakh for any act of “beadbi (sacrilege)” against the Guru Granth Sahib. It also issued a 15-day ultimatum to the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) to remove objectionable clauses.The development came hours after assembly speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan appeared before acting jathedar Giani Kuldeep Singh Gargaj and Takht Damdama Sahib jathedar Giani Tek Singh Dhanaula to discuss the controversial new anti-sacrilege legislation.“The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) will not comply with the Act’s requirement to upload records of Guru Granth Sahib “saroops (scriptures)” to a government-monitored website. Religious records and the management of the living Guru’s sanctity remain the exclusive domain of the Panth (Sikh community) and cannot be subjected to state-mandated digital surveillance,” Jathedar Giani Kuldeep Singh Gargaj said.The Jaagat Jyot Sri Guru Granth Sahib Satkar (Amendment) Act , enacted by the Punjab assembly, prescribes stringent punishment, including life imprisonment and a fine of up to ₹25 lakh, for the “beadbi” (sacrilege) of the Guru Granth Sahib. It was approved by Punjab Governor Gulab Chand Kataria on April 17 this year.Asserting that the Akal Takht Sahib has no objection to strict punishment being awarded to those guilty of sacrilege, the jathedar warned the Bhagwant Mann government that if it does not remove the provisions offending Sikh sentiments from the amended law within 15 days, a gathering of the five Singh Sahibs (Sikh clergy) would be convened by Sri Akal Takht Sahib and strict action would be taken in the matter.He further told Sandhwan that the Sri Akal Takht Sahib would provide the Punjab government with a panel of Sikh legal experts and judges who could help build consensus on the law.The developments came a day after chief minister Bhagwant Mann embarked on his four-day “Shukrana Yatra” on Wednesday, “to express gratitude to the Almighty for blessing him with the opportunity to serve humanity by enacting the Jaagat Jot Sri Guru Granth Sahib Satkar Act 2026, which provides for harsher punishment in ‘beadbi’ cases”.Calling the yatra an affront to Sikh traditions, acting jathedar Gargaj said: “Temporal authorities cannot claim victory over matters of faith without the consensus of the sangat (community).”Speaking to reporters later, Sandhwan declined to comment on the proceedings and defended the law, saying: “I conveyed that we are committed to the Panth and will act according to its sentiments. What we have already done was according to the sentiments of the Panth.”Responding to claims that the SGPC was not consulted, Sandhwan added: “Nothing is like that. We got an advertisement published in the newspapers and sought suggestions before the legislation. A stricter law for sacrilege culprits was the need of the hour and we did that. Rest, jathedar sahib has his own points on this law; only he and his representatives can explain them. If there are apprehensions over it, it could be addressed in the rules to be framed under this law.”