AAP government failed to deliver justice in old sacrilege cases, including the Maur blast: Pargat

Chandigarh, April 13, 2026: Former Education Minister and MLA Pargat Singh raised serious questions over the new sacrilege bill being introduced in the special session of the Punjab government and the sluggish handling of old sacrilege cases. While supporting the Jagat Jyot Shri Guru Granth Sahib Satkar (Amendment) Bill–2026  presented in the Punjab Assembly, he urged that all aspects be re-examined to prevent it from getting entangled in legal complications.
Pargat challenged Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann to a debate on the action taken in sacrilege cases during Congress’s five-year tenure versus AAP’s four years. He said he is ready to debate whenever the CM wishes.
He alleged that in 4 years and 28 days of AAP’s tenure, the government has failed to deliver justice to the victims of the Maur blast case, in which seven people lost their lives. He stated that the case file has not moved forward even an inch in the last three and a half years, despite the investigation being complete. He questioned why the Chief Minister seems hesitant to even take the name of Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh and whether prosecution sanction has been granted in old sacrilege cases even after three and a half years.
Speaking on sacrilege cases, Pargat said that in 2021, an SIT led by Salaria reached out regarding the investigation involving Ram Rahim. In January 2022, a chargesheet was filed in a Faridkot court. After March 2023, all five cases were transferred outside Punjab. He told the Speaker that witnesses in these cases must be facing immense hardship, yet the government lacks the courage to even discuss the matter.
Discussing the legal and political aspects, he said sacrilege cases increased after 2015. He added that if strict action had been taken earlier against Ram Rahim—for allegedly impersonating Guru Gobind Singh in 2007, and if cases registered in 2012 had not been canceled and closure reports not filed in 2014—the subsequent rise in sacrilege incidents could have been prevented.
He further noted that there have been four attempts to enact stricter sacrilege laws—in 2016, 2018, 2025, and now 2026. Sharing data, he said that since 2015, there have been 597 sacrilege cases, out of which only 44 resulted in convictions—just 7% justice delivery. About 83 cases were canceled during police investigation, 37 were dismissed by courts, and 102 remain unsolved.
He added that AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal had promised justice in sacrilege cases and built the Punjab government on that assurance. “Now neither Kejriwal nor his guarantee is visible,” he remarked.