Promised action in 48 hours, now its 48 months: Congress raises 2015 sacrilege incidents

Leader of Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa strongly supported the Bill but asked if the government had consulted constitutional experts before bringing it.

Raising the issue of the 2015 sacrilege incidents and police firing at anti-sacrilege protesters in Faridkot, the Congress leader reminded that AAP’s promise of delivering justice within 48 hours have now stretched into 48 months.

“After 48 months (four years of AAP government), nothing has been done yet. We are supporting the Bill. But the people of Punjab want answers from you. You have not done anything in four years,” Bajwa said.

“Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh (former Punjab police officer and now AAP MLA) who was once the poster boy of AAP and who was to be made the home minister, is out of party now,” he added.

Taking exception to Bajwa’s remark, Mann said it was an internal decision of the party whom to be made a minister or not. “Is this an issue (to be raised today)? Have some shame,” Mann told Bajwa.

Bajwa, however, pointed out that the sacrilege cases and police firing cases have been transferred out to Punjab to Chandigarh.

Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan, responding to Bajwa, said it was the AAP government which got investigation into the 2015 police firing cases completed and filed chargesheets. He said that several accused — including Sukhbir Singh Badal, Sumedh Singh Saini, Paramraj Singh Umranangal and others — had been placed on bail after challans were filed.

The incident pertains to the theft of a ‘bir’ (copy) of 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, in Faridkot in 2015. These incidents had led to anti-sacrilege protests. In a sbsequent police firing at anti-sacrilege protesters in October 2015, two people were killed in Behbal Kalan while some were injured at Kotkapura in Faridkot.

On the new Bill, he said, “This is a very important Bill. We support it. All Punjab and Punjabis all over the world do”.

Bajwa demanded that the report of the select committee — headed by Dr. Inderbir Singh Nijjar and deliberating for nine months on a similar draft (Punjab Prevention of Offences Against Holy Scripture(s) Bill, 2025) — be immediately tabled in the House.

Bajwa questioned the AAP government’s intent saying that while it will take care of future offences it could not be applied in retrospective effect. He specifically asked how many officers implicated in the past incidents had been exonerated and what would happen to over 550 old sacrilege cases, noting that the proposed law would apply only to future incidents. “We see intent missing,” he said, adding that the government appeared more interested in gaining political advantage than delivering justice. “People of Punjab seek answers from you… Don’t be in any mistaken belief. You will not get to rule for 25 years.”

Speaking on the Bill, Congress MLA Pargat Singh said that in four years and 28 days, the AAP government has failed to deliver justice to the victims of the Maur blast case, in which seven people lost their lives. He said that the case file has not moved forward even an inch in the last three and a half years, despite the investigation being complete.

He asked why the CM seems hesitant to even take the name of Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh. He added that had strict action been taken earlier against Ram Rahim, for allegedly impersonating Guru Gobind Singh in 2007, and if cases registered in 2012 had not been canceled and closure reports not filed in 2014, the subsequent rise in sacrilege incidents could have been prevented.

BJP MLA Ashwani Sharma criticised the government for sending the draft overnight without adequate consultation. Inside the House, BJP MLA Jangi Lal Mahajan, BSP MLA Nachhatar Pal and rebel SAD MLA Manpreet Singh Ayali supported the Bill. Ganieve Kaur Majithia, wife of senior Akali leader Bikram Singh Majithia was absent on the occasion.

Congress MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira said the Dera Sacha Sauda chief was the main accused in the 2015 sacrilege cases and he had not yet been brought on a production warrant to the state for questioning him. He also asked the AAP government whether it consulted the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee on the anti-sacrilege law.

Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema attacked the SAD, BJP and the Congress, tracing the history of ‘beadbi’ incidents in the state back to the Nakodar killings. He alleged that the tragic sequence of ‘beadbi’ events consistently began whenever SAD and BJP were in power in Punjab.

“On February 4, 1986, in Nakodar, police opened fire on Sikh youths who were peacefully protesting the burning of five Saroops of Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji at Sri Guru Arjan Dev Gurdwara Sahib. While the first part of the report was submitted, the second part mysteriously vanished,” said Cheema.

Highlighting lack of action by previous governments, he said “Successive SAD-BJP governments from 1997 to 2002 and 2007 to 2017, as well as the Congress government from 2002 to 2007, made absolutely no effort to locate the missing report or deliver justice.

Referring to the 2015 incidents, Cheema claimed that the previous Congress government failed to take action against the culprits. “They only formed Special Investigation Teams but never submitted the challans in court. Under the leadership of CM Bhagwant Singh Mann, we are working hard to provide justice to the people. We filed the challans to finally fix accountability,” he said.

Meanwhile, the House also gave approval to extending by six more months the time period for the select committee to submit its report on the Punjab Prevention of Offences against Holy Scriptures Bill, 2025. It would also examine the 1986 Nakodar firing incident.