Chandigarh. Punjab Police has registered the first case under the new anti-blasphemy law after torn pages of a religious text were found in a slum in Sri Muktsar Sahib district. A police official said on Saturday that a case was registered on Thursday night after a complaint was made that torn pages of ‘Sukhmani Sahib Gutka’ were found in Kuchiyan Mohalla of Sri Muktsar Sahib, Malout. Deputy Superintendent of Police Harjeet Singh said that an FIR has been registered against unknown persons in this case.

Police said that the pages of Gutka Sahib have been handed over to the Gurudwara. The FIR has been registered under section 299 of the Indian Code of Justice (BNS) and section 5 of the Jagat Jot Sri Guru Granth Sahib Satkar (Amendment) Act, 2026. Under Section 299 of the Indian Judicial Code, malicious acts done deliberately with the intention of hurting the religious feelings of any class by insulting any religion or religious beliefs are crimes. The Punjab government had notified the anti-sacrilege law ‘Jagat Jot Sri Guru Granth Sahib Satkar (Amendment) Act, 2026’ last month.

It provides for stringent punishment, including life imprisonment and a fine of up to Rs 25 lakh, for any act of disrespect to the Sikh holy book Guru Granth Sahib. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government had called a special session of the Assembly on April 13 for the purpose of amending the Jagat Jot Sri Guru Granth Sahib Satkar Act, 2008 to prevent incidents of sacrilege and maintain the sanctity of the Guru Granth Sahib.

According to the law, any person committing sacrilege will be punished with imprisonment of not less than seven years which may extend to 20 years. Besides, a fine ranging from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 10 lakh can also be imposed on him. At the same time, according to the law, a person who commits sacrilege as part of a criminal conspiracy with the intention of disturbing the peace or communal harmony will be punished with imprisonment of at least 10 years which can be extended up to life imprisonment. Along with this, a fine ranging from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 25 lakh can be imposed on him.