DW BUREAU / CHANDIGARH

Punjab Congress chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring on Monday asked the AAP government whether the culprits of the 2015 sacrilege incidents and police firing at anti-sacrilege protesters face the law.

His statement came after Punjab Governor Gulab Chand Kataria gave his assent to the Jaagat Jot Sri Guru Granth Sahib Satkar (Amendment) Bill, 2026, which proposes stricter punishment, including life imprisonment, for any act of sacrilege against the Guru Granth Sahib.

The bill was unanimously passed by the Punjab Assembly on April 13 and later it was sent to the governor for his assent.

"The question is whether the culprits of the Behbal Kalan and Bargari incidents will get punishment. People want justice in the Behbal Kalan and Bargari incidents.

"If it (justice) is not being delivered, then there is no use of this act. After four years, you (AAP government) enacted this law to fool people," said Warring while replying to a question on the anti-sacrilege law.

Warring, who was accompanied by Congress MP Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, was addressing the media here.

The AAP government on April 13 had convened a special session of the Vidhan Sabha to amend the Jaagat Jot Sri Guru Granth Sahib Satkar Act, 2008, for stricter punishment against sacrilege of the Guru Granth Sahib.

The Jaagat Jot Sri Guru Granth Sahib Satkar (Amendment) Bill, 2026, proposes stricter punishments to deter incidents of 'beadbi' (sacrilege) and uphold the sanctity of the Guru Granth Sahib.

Congress MP Randhawa, while thanking the governor for giving assent to the anti-sacrilege bill, asked the state government whether old cases related to sacrilege would also be brought under the ambit of the new law so that victims can get justice.

The incident related to the theft of a 'bir' (copy) of the Guru Ganth Sahib from Burj Jawahar Singh Wala gurdwara, putting up handwritten sacrilegious posters in Bargari and Burj Jawahar Singh Wala and torn pages of the holy book found scattered at Bargari, had taken place in Bargari in Faridkot

in 2015.

These incidents had led to anti-sacrilege protests in Faridkot. In the police firing at anti-sacrilege protesters in October 2015, two persons were killed in Behbal Kalan while some persons were injured at Kotkapura in Faridkot.

(editor@dailyworld.in)