Punjab’s sacrilege amendment sets a dangerous precedent

India’s bane has always been too many sweeping and poorly defined laws weighing down on its citizens. Now the Punjab Cabinet has approved amendments which render the already archaic Indian Penal Code (IPC) even more so, by making ‘sacrilege’ of religious texts punishable with life imprisonment. Chief minister Amarinder Singh announced the insertion of Section 295AA to the 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 the religious feelings of the people, shall be punished with imprisonment for life”.

The previous Akali Dal-BJP government had passed a similar bill in March 2016, that sought life terms for desecration of the Sikh holy book. But that bill was returned by the Centre on the grounds that it focussed on one religious book. In a wholly perverse interpretation of secularism, Punjab’s Congress government now seems to be correcting that by including all religious texts. This sets a dangerous precedent. By advocating life imprisonment for something as nebulous as hurt sentiments, it is akin to Pakistan’s draconian blasphemy laws which lend themselves to abuse and persecution of innocent people. We have only to look at our western neighbour to see how support for religious obscurantism destroys social harmony.

Thus, Punjab’s Congress government is playing a dangerous game. Worryingly, its move seems to have support across the political spectrum. If other states too take recourse to such religious populism, India will be no different from Pakistan. Like terrorism, freedom of speech is indivisible. Laws privileging hurt sentiments over constitutionally guaranteed freedom of speech lend themselves to abuse by those who want to restrict freedom of speech across the board. Such an approach is anathema to a secular democracy and will destroy it from inside.

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Courtesy: Times of India: 23 Aug 2018