CCTVs to be installed around religious places in Punjab to check incidents of sacrilege

Chandigarh, September 4: To check incidents of sacrilege and maintain communal harmony, Punjab government has ordered the installation of CCTVs around religious places and other important sites in the state.

 

Notably, the Punjab Government led by Captain Amarinder Singh has issued directives to village Panchayats and Municipal Corporations to get Close Circuit Television Cameras (CCTVs) installed in the vicinity of all Gurdwaras, Mosques, Temples and Churches, as well as other important locations in villages and in the limits of the municipal corporations.

According to an official spokesperson, the move is aimed at further strengthening security around religious places and preventing desecration or any other incident aimed at destroying the state’s peace and harmony.

The cameras would be installed by the village panchayats and Municipal Corporations from their own funds, said the spokesperson. Besides helping in nabbing anti-social elements involved in such heinous crimes, the CCTV cameras would also help curb other crimes.

The Chief Minister has been issuing a series of directives to the Punjab Police, with intensive discussions with DGP Suresh Arora, on ways to check sacrilege incidents. He has repeatedly asserted that nobody would be allowed to disturb the state’s communal harmony.

Earlier, Punjab Assembly passed a Bill to bring in life imprisonment for those found guilty of desecration. A bill had an insertion of Section 295AA to the Indian Penal Code (IPC) to provide that “whoever causes injury, damage or sacrilege to Sri Guru Granth Sahib, Srimad Bhagwad Geeta, Holy Quran and Holy Bible with the intention to hurt the religious feelings of the people, shall be punished with imprisonment for life.”