Punjab: Shiromani Church Parbandhak Committee Formed Over Claims Of Police Inaction In Alleged Bible Desecration Case

Vexed over what they assert is inaction by authorities over incidents of their religious sentiments being hurt, the members of the Christian community in Punjab have decided to create a decision-making entity known as ‘Shiromani Church Parbandhak Committee’ (SCPC), reports The Times of India.

A member of the Punjab State Minority Commission and president of the Christian United Federation, Albert Dua, explained the reasoning behind the move, "We formed SCPC as incidents of hurting religious sentiments of our peaceful community are on the rise in Punjab. Recently, a man name Ankur Narula got a Bible-shaped cake baked and got it cut. This hurt our feelings and amounts to desecration of the holy Bible. We complained to police, but no action was taken."

He added that if the police did not register a case within a week, the community would carry out a huge protest in Jalandhar.

Ironically, the person who is being accused of desecrating the Bible, Ankur Narula, is himself a popular Christian priest in Punjab who conducts large-scale public sermons.

Punjab has in recent times been the centre of a debate surrounding the government’s role in preventing or penalising desecration of religious texts. The government of CM Captain Amarinder Singh had in 2018 passed an amendment to the IPC to make damage to Hindu, Sikh, Muslim and Christiain holy texts a punishable offence.