AAP’s Anti-Sacrilege Law in Punjab Sparks Severe Backlash as Akal Takht Questions Lack of Prior Consultation with Sikh Institutions

THE PUNJAB GOVERNMENT’S Jagat Jot Sri Guru Granth Sahib Satkar Amendment Bill 2026, which was passed in the legislative assembly on April 13, 2026, and received the Governor’s assent to become an act six days later, has come to face immense criticisms from the members and governing institutions of the Sikh Community in Punjab. The bill, which proposed to amend the existing Anti-Sacrilege Law in order to strengthen the punishment against acts of Beadbi (Sacrilege), has triggered a major controversy in the state.

The Aam Aadmi Party government led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann had tabled the aforementioned bill in a special assembly session on April 13, 2026. In light of the increasing cases of sacrilege and desecration of the Holy Guru Granth Sahib, the Punjab government seeked to amend the existing Anti-Sacrilege law and introduce stricter punishments for the same. 

However, the Akal Takht—seat of Sikh authority—has deeply criticized this initiative, citing the reasons of potential government overreach on the matters governing the Sikh religious community. While they have not opposed the stricter punishments—such as the imposed fines of up to Rs 25 lakh or the provision of cognizable offence and life imprisonment—a warning bell on the potential government and political infringement has been raised. They have flagged a clear question: If a decision as important as an amendment to the existing Anti-Sacrilege law were to take place, why weren’t they consulted before this decision was made?

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Historical Roots of The Anti-Sacrilege Law and Politics in Punjab

For the Sikh community, Sri Guru Granth Sahib—the scripture embodying the Gurbani (teachings) of Sikh Gurus—is considered to be “supreme” or  “the living Guru.” It was Sri Guru Gobind Singh—the tenth Sikh Guru—who halted all practices of ‘Guru’ worship, and established Sri Guru Granth Sahib as the principle source of authority and supremacy within the community. Given the existence of a syncretic social fabric for centuries, the Gurbani is also highly revered among the Hindus, Muslims, and people of other faiths in Punjab. However, with the passage of time, instances of sacrilege and desecration of the holy scripture came to be widely witnessed. And that has caused a major sense of dissatisfaction, dissent, and disturbance among the Sikh community in Punjab. 

The then Shiromani Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party (SAD-BJP) allied government in Punjab implemented the Jagat Jot Sri Guru Granth Sahib Satkar Act in 2008. This act notified the designated authority and jurisdiction for printing, publishing, distributing, and handling of The Guru Granth Sahib, and thereby put an end to all unauthorized publications. Under this act, the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC)—an organization in India responsible for the management of gurdwaras, Sikh places of worship, in the states of Punjab and Himachal Pradesh and the union territory of Chandigarh—played an important role. However, it was only an advisory one, with no statutory enforcement capacities. It is this foundational act of 2008, that has been amended over time, and is also being amended under the latest bill. 

With the sentiments of the Sikhs centering around the Guru Granth Sahib, increasing acts of sacrilege had highly enraged the Community in Punjab. The situation became more complex, when in 2015, a series of desecration cases came to the fore, taking the Sikh community by storm. People took to the street in large numbers, protesting against this condemnable act. On October 14, 2015, around 6,000 protesters gathered in Kotkapura, Punjab, and held a peaceful sit-in protest, when the police firing to control an alleged mob had killed two protesters. 

It was this incident in 2015 that became a watershed moment in the discourse of sacrilege in Punjab. Since then, it has witnessed three attempts to counter the acts of desecration against the holy script, with the 2026 bill being the third one.

In 2016, the SAD-BJP government tried to amend the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) and give shape to a stricter anti-sacrilege law in the state. The government proposed lifetime imprisonment against these acts, but the Union Government refused to clear the bill. Similar attempts were also made under the Congress Government in 2018, which sought to strengthen the law while bringing the sacred texts of other religious communities into the Act’s purview. This too did not receive the President’s assent. 

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Subsequently, when the Aam Aadmi Party came to power in 2022, it campaigned heavily on the failure of the existing SAD-BJP, and later, the Congress government in Punjab to put an end to sacrilege. Thereby, promising to deliver justice to longdrawn humiliation and disrespect to the Sikh community. The 2015 mishap, in fact, became one of the key factors behind the SAD-BJP alliance facing defeat in the 2017 assembly elections in Punjab.  But the AAP government too, failed in materializing its promises, and it was only in 2025 that they introduced a bill in the assembly, which got modified and took the shape of the amendment bill introduced recently in 2026. 

What Does the Jagat Jot Sri Guru Granth Sahib Satkar Act 2026 entail?

The Jagat Jot Sri Guru Granth Sahib Satkar Act 2026, or the Anti-sacrilege Act, was passed in the Punjab legislative assembly on April 13, 2026, and received the Governor’s assent to become an act on April 19, 2026. In line with its preceding provisions, this act brings about stricter punishments and seeks to define ‘sacrilege’ in legal terms for the first time. It amends the existing act of 2008, and attempts to uphold the sanctity of the religious sentiments of the Sikh community. The law strives to increase the financial penalty upto Rs 25 lakh, prison time of a minimum seven years extendable to life imprisonment. Under the law, any sort of deliberate desecration, damage, burning, or tearing of the holy scripture is a punishable offence.  

Additionally, the new law also makes the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) the principal authority for maintaining a Central Register to record the printing, storage, distribution, and supply of each Saroop (physical copy of the scripture), including assigning a unique identification number for each copy. Furthermore, the custodians of Saroops are required to ensure safe custody, prevent damage or misuse, and also report any damage, disappearance, or suspected sacrilege.   

However, despite these strict measures, many in the Sikh community and Sikh religious institutions are bringing this bill and its passage under serious scrutiny. While they have not opposed the proposed provisions of punishment, they have raised concerns on the potential political overreach and the non-consultation of the Sikh institutions. Among them, the Akal Takht has been the most vocal, and has been at the heart of questioning the conduct of the AAP government in Punjab.

What Is the Akal Takht, and Why Are They Criticizing the AAP?

Akal Takht was founded by Guru Hargobind Ji—the sixth Sikh Guru, and the son of Guru Arjun Dev Ji—as an establishment for managing the external pressures facing the community, while maintaining its spiritual sanctity. With the death of Guru Arjun Dev Ji—the fifth Sikh Guru—and the increasing hostilities with the Mughals, the Akal Takht was established as a site that would preserve the spirituality of the community, whilst enabling it to foster its defensive capacities.

Today, the Akal Takht stands as a primary institution of the Sikh community in Punjab in regulating the moral, spiritual and political affairs of the community. 

While the Akal Takht has not opposed the provisions of punishment and financial penalties that the newly passed law entails, it has raised severe criticisms against the functioning of the Government and the manner in which the bill was passed. At its heart is the point that none of the Sikh governing bodies, the Akal Takht, SGPC, or the Khalsa Panth were consulted before the bill was passed. The Akal Takht has also raised its opposition against the potential inroads of the government in regulating and managing the Guru Granth sahib, and thereby infringing upon the matters vested onto the Sikh religious institutions. Furthermore, it opposed the assigning of unique identification numbers to the copies of Guru Granth Sahib.  

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The head of the Akal takht Giani Kuldip Singh Gargajj, after a meeting with the 87 Sikh MLAs including ministers, publicly declared that several MLAs had not even read the draft legislation of the sacrilege law before it was passed in the assembly. They were sent the draft law only a day before the special session was convened. With this, the Akal Takht directed the Punjab government to remove the objectionable clauses in the law within a month. 

The AAP government has responded by saying that the law won't be retracted but is open to suggestions for amendments from the Akal Takht. The assembly discussions also got heated over this issue on August 5, 2026, when the finance minister Harpal Singh Cheema reiterated the government’s stance on receiving the suggestions from the Akal Takht for the amendments to the bill. 

In the meantime, situations have turned tense, as Akal Takht had declared Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann as ‘Anti-Guru’ and ‘Anti-Panth’, over the alleged objectionable videos. While Bhagwant Mann had declared those to be forged, the Akal Takht, upon a forensic examination, had found the videos to be true. With the contentious sacrilege law in hand, and the stiff opposition of the government’s action by the Akal Takht, this setback by the AAP government is surely going to have an impact in the upcoming assembly elections in Punjab next year. 

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