Context:

Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann said that a draft Bill on sacrilege would be tabled in the Vidhan Sabha.

Key Points:

• Government has said that death penalty would be too strong as punishment.
• It will be enacted after consultation with religious leaders and organisations.
• Law may include punishment of imprisonment for 10 years.

Other Indian laws on Sacrilege:

• Under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita(BNS), the punishment for sacrilege, which involves acts intended to outrage religious feelings, is imprisonment for up to three years, a fine, or both.
• Section 299 of the BNS addresses deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings by insulting a religion or its beliefs. The offence is also cognisable, non-bailable, and triable by any magistrate.

Sacrilege has always been an emotive issue in Punjab, but it hit headlines in October 2015 when pages from the Guru Granth Sahib were found torn at Bargari in Faridkot district. The government has been prompted to table the legislation as an activist has been protesting from atop a 400-ft-tall BSNL tower since October last year seeking a law against sacrilege.