Anti-sacrilege bill: Punjab Vidhan Sabha Speaker constitutes select committee; Inderbir Nijjar to head panel
The 15-member committee will be led by former Cabinet minister Dr Inderbir Singh Nijjar. The panel will comprise Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLAs Ajay Gupta, Amandeep Kaur Arora, Inderjit Kaur Mann, Jagdeep Kamboj, Baljinder Kaur, Neena Mittal, Budh Ram, Bram Shankar Jimpa, Mohd Jamil-Ur-Rehman, and Madan Lal Bagga, Congress MLAs Tripat Rajinder Singh Bajwa and Balwinder Singh Dhaliwal, BJP MLA Jangi Lal Mahajan and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) MLA Manpreet Ayali.
While the committee has members from all faiths and is headed by a baptised Sikh, Punjab Advocate General Maninder Jit Singh Bedi will be the ex officio member.
The select committee will submit its report to the Speaker within six months. The Punjab Vidhan Sabha had tabled the Bill on Monday in a special session of the Assembly.
According to the statement of objectives and reasons of the Bill, there have been attempts to disturb the peace and communal harmony in the state by committing sacrilege of the Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji, the Srimad Bhagavad Gita, the Quran, and other holy scriptures.
The government said it was determined not to allow such incidents and ensure deterrent action against all those who commit such sacrilege. The proposed Bill aims to achieve this objective by providing life imprisonment for acts of sacrilege.
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