Twitter Slams Capt Amarinder Singh for Punjab’s Bill on Sacrilege

Capt Amarinder Singh draws flak for his proposed law on sacrilege of religious texts.

The Punjab Cabinet on Tuesday, 21 August, approved amendments to Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC ) and the Indian Penal Code (IPC) to make sacrilege of all religious texts punishable with life imprisonment, reported NDTV.

The Cabinet today decided on amendments to IPC to make sacrilege of all religious texts punishable with life imprisonment. We will place the Bill in the Vidhan Sabha for approval. I stand firmly committed to preserve communal harmony in the State. pic.twitter.com/0Bm8150IH1

— Capt.Amarinder Singh (@capt_amarinder) August 21, 2018

The decision was taken at a meeting of the Cabinet, chaired by Chief Minister Amarinder Singh. The Cabinet also approved a series of other bills to be tabled before the Assembly in the forthcoming session.

Singh took to Twitter to make the announcement and was subjected to a lot of criticism.

Hope it gets striked down by the HC or SC. This law is unnecessary.

— Keerthi🌹 (@TheDesiEdge) August 21, 2018

Under such a law, Galelio will have been sentenced to life imprisonment? @menakadoshi @anuradhasays

— Latha Venkatesh (@latha_venkatesh) August 21, 2018

It is exhausting. The madness that has affected all public life.

— menaka doshi (@menakadoshi) August 21, 2018

Many users also raised the point about what will be the definition of ‘religious text’. 

Could you please define 'sacrilege' for us, captain?

— Sasidharan Pazhoor (@inquestioner) August 21, 2018

First of all they have to define what constitutes a religious text. Will @dinkoism tweets and comics be considered religious? What if I write something and proclaim it to be religious? Where does this stupidity end?

— Yedei (@yedei) August 21, 2018

Twitter Users Condemn the Move

Many users shamed the move, calling it regressive.

Shame on you.

— Tanmay Bhat (@thetanmay) August 22, 2018

An abomination. Shame on you!

— Shivshankar Menon (@ShivshankaMenon) August 22, 2018

A retrograde and reprehensible decision. A shameful attempt.

— Tushar (@TusharG) August 22, 2018

That is a very regressive step, moving us backward in time. Shame.!

— Anarchytect (@SALMANHAROON) August 21, 2018

Some users also said that this would make India seem like its neighbour, which has very strict blasphemy laws.

You send @sherryontopp to Pakistan & end up making Pakistan of Punjab!

Will this Pakistan like Anti Blasphemy law still allow non Hindus to mock Hindu festivals? 🤔

— bittertruth (@gauravlavania) August 21, 2018

Too reminiscent of Pak's anti-blasphemy law!

— RD (@DharRenuka) August 21, 2018

Dear captain,please do not make us a nation with medieval blashpemy laws which is not indian culture.
study charvaks who made fun of vedic people as early as BC era!!!
this is regression into abyss!

— Rohan Kokane (@rkokane21) August 21, 2018

A horrifying decision, one that will affect free speech and will be misused by religious nuts, who now have an excellent weapon to wield against any critic. Blasphemy laws have no place in a democracy.

— Vaibhav Sharma (@taoofdudeism) August 21, 2018

One user pointed out that if passed, the law could be misused, while another said it could prove to be a threat to freedom of speech and expression.

A horrifying decision, one that will affect free speech and will be misused by religious nuts, who now have an excellent weapon to wield against any critic. Blasphemy laws have no place in a democracy.

— Vaibhav Sharma (@taoofdudeism) August 21, 2018

This is communal coddling, not communal harmony. The real insult here is the continued infantilization of the Indian people at the expense of free expression.https://t.co/PAN0QJAthu

— Sohan Dsouza (@SohanDsouza) August 21, 2018