Punjab is set to get a much stricter law against sacrilege after Governor Gulab Chand Kataria approved the Jaagat Jot Sri Guru Granth Sahib Satkar (Amendment) Bill, 2026 and with this approval the becomes law. Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann welcomed the move and thanked the Sikh community saying strict action will now be taken and “no accused will be spared.”
This law focuses on protecting the sanctity of the Guru Granth Sahib and aims to ensure strict punishment for anyone involved in:
Sacrilege (disrespect or damage)
Attempt or conspiracy to commit such acts
Posting offensive or derogatory content online
The new law is much stricter than before:
Jail term: Minimum 10 years which can go up to life imprisonment
Fine: Between Rs 5 lakh and Rs 25 lakh
Property of the accused can also be confiscated
For the first time digital sacrilege is clearly included. This means that morphed images, memes or deepfake videos insulting Guru Granth Sahib will be treated as serious crime and content shared on platforms like WhatsApp, Instagram, Telegram etc. will be tracked and police can ask platforms like Meta, X, and YouTube to remove such content quickly.
Punjab Police have issued a detailed Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to handle such cases properly and respectfully.
Key steps include:
Officers must treat ‘angs’ (pages of Guru Granth Sahib) with full religious respect at crime scenes
No unauthorised person can touch the holy text
Crime scenes will have two security layers: one for evidence, one for crowd control
Religious leaders and local gurdwara committees will be involved from the beginning
High-quality photos and videos must be taken before collecting evidence
New tech and investigation methods
Digital evidence like URLs, timestamps, and device data will be collected
If an accused appears mentally unstable then a board of forensic psychiatrists will examine them and this will help find out if they were manipulated or used by someone else.
To ensure faster justice:
Serious cases must be investigated within 90 days
Other cases within 60 days
Chargesheets must be filed digitally and without delay
The law also puts responsibility on the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) as it must maintain proper records of all saroops (copies of Guru Granth Sahib) and these records must be kept both physically and digitally.