Chandigarh, May 13 -- Since 2015, Punjab's courts tried 438 cases involving sacrilege, with only five resulting in the maximum three-year term for the crime, according to police data -- with the 1.14% success rate being proffered by the state as rationale for the controversial new sacrilege law that came into effect April 20. The Bhagwant Mann-led Aam Aadmi Party government in the state is locked in a tense standoff with the Sikh clergy over the new sacrilege law. The data also shows that there were convictions in only 43 cases, a 9% conviction rate. This data has become the primary justification for the government's controversial new legislation. Jaagat Jot Sri Guru Granth Sahib Satkar (Amendment) Act, 2026. But, the new law has run afoul of the Sikh clergy and the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), the apex Sikh religious body. On May 8, Akal Takht, the supreme temporal seat of the Sikhs, formally rejected the 2026 Act, issuing a 15-day ultimatum to the Punjab government to remove "objectionable clauses" in it The clergy, led by acting jathedar Giani Kuldeep Singh Gargaj, accused the government of interference in Sikh religious affairs, citing a clause that legally mandates the SGPC to maintain a government-monitored digital registry of all saroops (printed copies) of Guru Granth Sahib. The SGPC is the sole printer of the holy books sourced by gurdwaras and Sikh devotees in India and abroad. While Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan appeared before the Takht to explain the government's position on May 8, chief minister Bhagwant Mann was quick to strike a defiant note. On May 9, the concluding day of his carefully-choreographed four-day Shukrana Yatra (thanksgiving journey) across Punjab following the enactment of the sacrilege law, Mann asserted that the Act-which introduces penalties up to life imprisonment and fines of Rs.25 lakh-is final following governor Gulab Chand Kataria's assent on April 18 and will not be rolled back. Sacrilege has been an emotive political issue in Punjab since the 2015 Bargari and Behbal Kalan incidents which singed the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal government and turned out to be its nemesis in the 2017 assembly polls. Failure to bring the sacrilege accused to justice remained a thorn for the subsequent Congress regime. The police data shows that of 438 cases , 51 were dropped due to lack of evidence, while 118 cases involved unidentified suspects. In the courtroom, 67 cases ended in outright acquittals. Even when guilt was established, penalties were often nominal. In eight instances, courts imposed monetary fines ranging from Rs.300 to Rs.7,000. Under the old Section 295-A of the Indian Penal Code (deliberate and malicious acts aimed at outraging religious feelings) , the maximum punishment was three years; yet only 12 cases saw sentences exceeding one year. A significant portion of incidents appears to stem from social or psychological crises rather than organised malice. Investigations revealed that in 49 cases, the accused were found to be mentally unstable. Another 16 cases involved individuals under the influence of drugs. A senior official at the Bureau of Investigation which maintains the data, said while legal outcomes are complex, police response times have improved. "The average time to trace a case has dropped from 750 days in 2015 to just 94 days in 2025," he said, adding that the new law's "deterrent framework" is essential to close the gap between arrests and meaningful justice....