CHANDIGARH: The Punjab assembly on Tuesday unanimously decided to refer the anti-sacrilege bill ‘Punjab Prevention of Offences Against Holy Scriptures Bill, 2025’ to a Select Committee of MLAs for consultation with all stakeholders before it is enacted.On the concluding day of the special session of the assembly, Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan said after a three-and-a-half-hour debate that the panel will gather public input on the Bill and will submit its report on the bill within six months. The bill was tabled in the House on Monday by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann who had earlier proposed a four-month timeline.The bill proposes stringent penalties for sacrilege-related offences, prescribing a minimum sentence of 10 years, extendable to life imprisonment, along with fines ranging from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 10 lakh.Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring accused the Aam Aadmi Party government in Punjab of playing with the sentiments of people by enacting a drama of passing a law against sacrilege and then referring it to a select committee. “This is yet another ‘futile periodical exercise’ to bide time,” Warring said about the ‘Sacrilege Bill’ here today.”If the government was really sincere, it should have acted on the SIT report gathering dust in its corridors,” he suggested, while remarking, “this is a clear attempt to divert the public attention and shield the culprits.”
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