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Punjab’s anti-sacrilege law doesn’t guarantee justice. What more needs to be done

The AAP govt has extracted more political capital from sacrilege accountability than any of its predecessors. It now has the opportunity — and the obligation — to match that rhetoric with performance in court.

On Monday, Punjab’s Vidhan Sabha met for a special session, passed an anti-sacrilege bill unanimously, and the political class promptly declared victory. That is the easy part done.

What follows is harder — and far less certain.

The Jaagat Jot Sri Guru Granth Sahib Satkar (Amendment) Bill, 2026 is not without significance. It acknowledges, at last, that the existing penal framework was unequal to the gravity of sacrilege offences. It signals — however belatedly — that the legislature will not treat the desecration of Sri Guru Granth Sahib, the living embodiment of the Guru for Sikhs worldwide, as an ordinary criminal matter. And it is a response, long overdue, to a decade of public anguish that has gone without institutional reckoning.

But acknowledgement is not justice. A signal is not a verdict. No amount of legislative ceremony can substitute for what Punjab has consistently failed to deliver: convictions.

First, the Governor must act

The Bill has cleared the Assembly. It is not yet law. The Governor has three constitutional options: assent, return for reconsideration, or reserve it for presidential consideration. The last opens the door to Article 254(2) protection — stronger constitutional armour for a state law on a Concurrent List subject — but at the cost of delay, uncertainty, and the political limbo that has swallowed Punjab’s earlier sacrilege-related legislation.

The Governor should assent, and promptly. There is no constitutional purpose served by delay that cannot be better addressed through parliamentary or judicial scrutiny once the law is in force.

There is, however, a structural limitation that deserves honest public acknowledgement. Even after assent,........

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