Punjab Cabinet approves life imprisonment for sacrilege of religious text

Punjab Cabinet on Tuesday decided to bring an amendment to Indian Penal Code (IPC) to make sacrilege of all religious text punishable with life imprisonment.

Punjab Chief Minister Capt. Amarinder Singh took to Twitter to inform about the cabinet decision, "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".

On July 25, Punjab Chief Minister had said that the Justice (retired) Ranjit Singh Commission Report on the sacrilege cases in Punjab will be tabled in the next session of the Vidhan Sabha and legal action will be taken against all who would be found guilty by it.

Cabinet also gave its approval to several significant bills including the one that would allow for reservation of Schedule Caste (SC) employees in promotions.

"Our Cabinet has given its nod to several important Bills for enactment in the ensuing Vidhan Sabha session, including SC employee's reservation in promotions and constitution of Punjab State Higher Education Council," informed Punjab Chief Minister in a consequent tweet.

In June this year, the Supreme Court had allowed the Centre to provide reservation in promotion for employees of the scheduled caste and scheduled tribe community as per law, till the issue is cleared off by a constitution bench. In compliance with the order passed by the Supreme Court on May 17 and June 5 on special writ petition, Bihar Government on July 22 announced reservation for Schedule Caste/ Schedule Tribe personnel in its services.