Anglican Church moves high court against Punjab’s anti-sacrilege law

| TNN | May 1, 2026, 11:01 IST

CHANDIGARH: The Anglican Church of India, Amritsar, has moved the Punjab and Haryana high court, challenging the constitutional validity of Punjab’s recent anti-sacrilege law, Jaagat Jot Sri Guru Granth Sahib Satkar (Amendment) Act, 2026.

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The petitioner alleged that the law created a religion-specific and discriminatory penal framework and violated the foundational principles of secularism.

The matter came up for hearing on Thursday before a division bench comprising Justice Harsimran Singh Sethi and Justice Deepak Manchanda. It is now likely to be heard on Friday by the coordinate bench headed by Chief Justice Sheel Nagu, where a similar petition is already pending.

The law received the Punjab governor’s assent on April 17. Seeking interim relief, the church has urged the court to stay the operation of the law, asserting its continued enforcement would cause irreparable harm by subjecting other religious groups to an unequal penal regime.

The petitioner contended that the legislation granted exclusive statutory protection to ‘saroops’ of the Guru Granth Sahib, prescribing stringent regulatory measures and severe penalties, including life imprisonment, for acts of sacrilege. However, it did not extend similar safeguards to other holy scriptures such as the Bible, the Quran Sharif and the Bhagavad Gita, the petition said.

The petition argued that despite the state acknowledging in its legislative intent that sacrilege affected multiple religions, it had chosen to enact a stricter regime for only one religious scripture. This resulted in arbitrariness, hostile discrimination and unequal treatment, violating Articles 14, 25 and 26 of the Constitution, as well as the principle of secularism, the petition said.