Punjab legislative assembly on Monday gave a six-month extension to a 15-member select committee examining ‘Punjab Prevention of Offences against Holy Scriptures Bill, 2025.’
The select panel led by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Inderbir Singh Nijjar was constituted in July last year to review the proposed legislation, which seeks to introduce harsher punishment for desecration of various religious scriptures. The panel has 11 members from the AAP, two from the Congress and one each from the BJP and SAD.
The extension, which began on January 6, will end on July 5. Nijjar proposed an extension in the House, which was allowed unanimously.
Chief minister Bhagwant Mann told the House that to date, 564 suggestions have been received, and more discussion is needed on the matter to frame a law to check the desecration of all the religious scriptures.
The panel has been tasked with examining the 1986 Nakodar firing incident, in which four protesters were killed in police firing while protesting the desecration of the Guru Granth Sahib. A report was sought from the state police, but was never made public.
On the question raised by the opposition that the Jaagat Jot Sri Guru Granth Sahib Satkar (Amendment) bill is based on the report of the select committee, the CM said that the panel was set up to give a separate report covering all the religious scriptures.
www.hindustantimes.com
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