'Sacrilege A Heinous Offence': Punjab & Haryana High Court Refuses To Quash FIR Against Man Claiming He's Incarnation Of Guru Nanak Dev

Observing an act of sacrilege is a heinous offence "irrespective of any religion", the Punjab & Haryana High Court has refused to quash FIR lodged under Section 295-A IPC against a man, claiming himself as incarnation of Guru Nanak Dev. Sanjay Rai claimed that he is the incarnation of Guru Nanak Dev and he can prove it by his spiritual knowledge.

Justice Jasgurpreet Singh Puri observed,

"It was command of the 10th Guru Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji that after him, there will be no human Guru and the only Guru will be Guru Granth Sahib Ji. The supremacy of Guru Granth Sahib Ji is accepted and followed by the Sikhs. Any departure made by any one from the aforesaid dictum amounts to causing hurt and insult to religion and religious beliefs. This Court finds support and strength from the judgments of Supreme Court, shabads from Guru Granth Sahib Ji and well acknowledged writings as referred by the learned Amicus Curiae'

It added,

"the allegation against the petitioner in the FIR based on video and audio recordings which are in public domain and also averments made in the present petition itself are undoubtedly serious in nature. An act of sacrilege, if any, and irrespective of any religion is a serious and heinous offence especially because it affects large section of society."

Appearing in person Rai said that the FIR was an abuse of the process of law since no offence is made out against him. He submitted that there is only one religion i.e. Sanatan Dharam and all others in reality are 'Panths' and not religion. He also submitted that rather all the religions today are controlled by powerful lobbies and run as profitable industry and they exercise full control over world economics and politics and that is the reason as to why Avtars have to come time and again.

Kulwant Singh Boparai, Amicus Curiae submitted that a perusal of the FIR and even the contents of the Rai's petition would show that he has been repeatedly proclaiming himself to be incarnation of Guru Nanak Dev Ji and claims himself to be a living Guru whereas such a proclamation is totally contrary to the fundamentals of Sikh religion.

Considering the submissions, the Court said that, "In the present case, the allegations against the petitioner are not only serious in nature but also having high magnitude. As per the allegations as stated above, the petitioner has deliberately and maliciously intended to outrage the religious feelings of a particular class of people and has also insulted a religion and religious beliefs by way of words spoken and also by visible representations."

Court however clarified that it is upto the trial Court to ascertain whether the allegations against the petitioner in the FIR are proved or not in accordance with law.

Appearance: Sarabjit Singh Cheema, DAG, Punjab.

P.S. Hundal, Senior Advocate with Mrigank Sharma, Advocate for the complainant.

Kulwant Singh Boparai, Advocate, Amicus Curiae.

Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (PH) 195