Chandigarh, April 11 -- : The Punjab cabinet on Saturday cleared a stringent amendment to the Jagat Jot Sri Guru Granth Sahib Satkar Act, 2008, introducing life imprisonment to ensure strict punishment for 'beadbi' (sacrilege).

The Jagat Jot Sri Guru Granth Sahib Satkar (Amendment) Bill, 2026, will be introduced on Monday during a special session of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha.

The decision was taken in a meeting chaired by chief minister Bhagwant Singh Mann. A spokesperson for the chief minister's office (CMO) said: "Several incidents of beadbi in the past have deeply hurt public sentiments and caused unrest. While Sections 298, 299, and 300 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023, address such matters, they do not prescribe sufficientl...