Thursday, Apr 25, 2024 | Last Update : 01:33 PM IST
Life in jail for insulting religious text
Punjab Cabinet approves amendments to CrPC, IPC.
Chandigarh: The Punjab Cabinet has approved amendments to CrPC and the IPC to make sacrilege of all religious texts punishable with life imprisonment, thus taking a major step towards curbing such incidents and maintaining communal harmony in the state.
The decision was taken at a meeting of the Cabinet, chaired by chief minister Capt. Amarinder Singh, here on Tuesday. The Cabinet also approved a series of other bills to be tabled before the Assembly in the forthcoming session.
According to an official spokesperson, the Cabinet has approved insertion of Section 295AA to the Indian Penal Code (IPC) to provide that “whoever causes injury, damage, or sacrilege to Sri Guru Granth Sahib, Srimad Bhagwad Geeta, Holy Quran, and Holy Bible with the intention to hurt religious feelings of the people, shall be punished with imprisonment for life.”
The Cabinet has approved the withdrawal of the Code of Criminal Procedure (Punjab Amendment) Bill, 2016, (Bill No.7-PLA-2016) and the Indian Penal Code (Punjab Amendment) Bill, 2016, (Bill No.6-PLA-2016) passed in the 12th Session of 14th Vidhan Sabha, 2016. It has given its nod to the introduction of ‘the Code of Criminal Procedure (Punjab Amendment) Bill, 2018, and the Indian Penal Code (Punjab Amendment) Bill, 2018, in the ensuing session of Punjab Vidhan Sabha.
