{"id":81918,"date":"2026-08-19T18:23:41","date_gmt":"2026-08-19T12:53:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/?p=81918"},"modified":"2026-08-19T18:24:20","modified_gmt":"2026-08-19T12:54:20","slug":"religious-freedom-sacrilege-laws-india","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/19-08-2026\/religious-freedom-sacrilege-laws-india","title":{"rendered":"Balancing Religious Sentiments and Constitutional Freedoms"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus: GS2\/Polity and Governance<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Punjab\u2019s new sacrilege law has reignited debate <strong>over the criminalisation of reli\u00adgious offence in a sec\u00adu\u00adlar state.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>About<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Recently, the Gov\u00adernor of Punjab gave his assent to the<strong> Jaagat Jot Sri Guru Granth Sahib Satkar (Amendment) Act.<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>It has introduced <strong>stricter punishment against the sacrilege of Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji.\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Anyone found involved in or supporting the sacrilegious acts can be <strong>imprisoned for 10 years to life and fined between 5 lakh and 25 lakh rupees.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Sacrilege under the Act: <\/strong>It cov\u00aders any <strong>\u201cwil\u00adful and delib\u00ader\u00adate\u201d act <\/strong>of desec\u00adra\u00adtion through <strong>phys\u00adical dam\u00adage, deface\u00adment, burn\u00ading, tear\u00ading or theft<\/strong> of the Guru Granth Sahib and also extends sac\u00adri\u00adlege equally to a<strong>cts com\u00admit\u00adted in speech, writing and visual representation or through elec\u00adtronic means.\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>What is Sacrilege?&nbsp;<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Sacrilege literally means<strong> treating a religious object or place without the respect that it deserves.<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>It traditionally concerns conduct<\/strong> i.e. physical desecration or violation of something considered sacred.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Blasphemy <\/strong>concerns expression, including contemptuous or irreverent speech, writ\u00ading or imagery about a god, a prophet, a scripture or a set of beliefs.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Legal Stand: Sec\u00adtion 298 of the Bhar\u00adatiya Nyaya San\u00adhita <\/strong>pun\u00adishes injur\u00ading or defil\u00ading a place of wor\u00adship with intent to insult a reli\u00adgion, a sac\u00adri\u00adlege\u00ad type offence aimed at con\u00adduct.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Sec\u00adtion 299 of the BNS<\/strong> pun\u00adishes delib\u00ader\u00adate and mali\u00adcious insult to reli\u00adgious beliefs by words, signs or vis\u00adible rep\u00adres\u00adent\u00ada\u00adtion.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-background\" style=\"background-color:#ebecf0\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<p><strong>Origin of Blasphemy Laws in India<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Enactment of Section 295A of the Indian Penal Code in 1927 criminalised <\/strong>the \u201cdelib\u00ader\u00adate and mali\u00adcious\u201d acts inten\u00added to out\u00adrage the reli\u00adgious feel\u00adings of any class of cit\u00adizens, whether by words, signs, or vis\u00adible rep\u00adres\u00adent\u00ada\u00adtion.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>In 1957, the <strong>Supreme Court in Ramji Lal Modi versus State of Uttar Pra\u00addesh upheld the pro\u00advi\u00adsion\u2019s con\u00adsti\u00adtu\u00adtion\u00adal\u00adity<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Constitutional Take<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Article 19(1)(a) (Freedom of speech): <\/strong>The law can be challenged under the fundamental right to freedom of speech and expression.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Criminalising words, writings, signs or electronic representations can have a <strong>chilling effect on legitimate criticism, academic discussion, satire and social reform.<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The State would have to demonstrate that the <strong>restriction falls within one of the grounds specifically listed under Article 19(2).<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Article 19(2) (Public order is not the same as religious hurt): <\/strong>The State could argue that the law is necessary to maintain public order, particularly given Punjab&#8217;s history of sacrilege-related tensions.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>However, the constitutional question would be whether offence to religious sentiments is sufficient to constitute a threat to public order.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Article 14 (Equality and non-arbitrariness): <\/strong>Expressions such as \u201cdisrespect\u201d or conduct \u201cof a nature to hurt religious feelings\u201d may raise concerns about how objectively the offence can be determined.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Criminal law normally requires sufficient clarity so that citizens can reasonably understand what conduct is prohibited.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Principle of Proportionality: <\/strong>A punishment extending to life imprisonment for physical desecration <strong>would invite scrutiny under the principle of proportionality.<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The Court could examine the nature of the prohibited conduct, the harm caused, intention, availability of less restrictive measures and the severity of punishment.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Way Ahead<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>While criminalising deliberate physical desecration of sacred objects may be justified to protect public order and religious freedom, extending criminal liability to expression <strong>risks infringing Article 19(1)(a).\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>A constitutionally sound approach would therefore require<strong> clear definitions, proof of deliberate and malicious intent, proportionality in punishment, and equal application across religions,<\/strong> consistent with India\u2019s secular and democratic constitutional framework.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source: TH<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><strong> Context <\/strong><\/p>\n<li class=\"ms-5\"> Punjab\u2019s new sacrilege law has reignited debate over the criminalisation of reli\u00adgious offence in a sec\u00adu\u00adlar state. <\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<p><strong> About <\/strong><\/p>\n<li class=\"ms-5\"> Recently, the Gov\u00adernor of Punjab gave his assent to the Jaagat Jot Sri Guru Granth Sahib Satkar (Amendment) Act. <\/li>\n<li class=\"ms-5\"> It has introduced stricter punishment against the sacrilege of Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji.\u00a0 <\/li>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/19-08-2026\/religious-freedom-sacrilege-laws-india\" class=\"btn btn-primary btn-sm float-end\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-81918","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81918","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81918"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81918\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":81921,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81918\/revisions\/81921"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81918"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81918"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81918"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}