Farmers Movement Archive

Amritsar: Youth 'beaten to death' for sacrilege at Golden Temple

AMRITSAR: In the second incident of a person being killed for sacrilege, a youth was allegedly beaten to death by the enraged sangat and sewadars at Golden Temple after he jumped in front of the Guru Granth Sahib in the sanctum sanctorum of the Golden Temple during the recital of rehras sahib (evening prayers) on Saturday evening. He scaled the railing as the devotees watched in horror, stepped on the 'rumala sahib' (cloth around the holy book) and picked up the sword placed in front of it, disrupting religious services. In October, Nihangs brutally hacked a man to death and put his body on display at Singhu border over sacrilege of the Guru Granth Sahib - the holy book Sikhs. Deputy Commissioner Police (DCP) Parminder Singh Bhandal confirmed that the youth was beaten to death. He told media persons that the youth, aged between 20 and 25, was wearing a yellow patka. "He was standing calmly with the sangat in the sanctum sanctorum, but when his turn came, he bowed and jumped inside the railing and picked up the sword," he said The youth was immediately overpowered and brought outside, and beaten by the angry sangat on the way, following which he died. The DCP said his body was sent to the morgue and an autopsy would be conducted on Sunday. He also said the police didn't find any identification card or document on the dead man, but they would check the CCTV footage to see if he was alone or not. Failure of govt, agencies that they could not catch culprits: SGPCIn October, a group of Nihangs had brutally hacked a man to death and put his body on display at Singhu border over sacrilege of the Guru Granth Sahib - the holy book of the Sikhs. An eyewitness who identified himself as Fateh Singh said a youth jumped over the railing with intention of sacrilege and tried to touch the saroop of Sri Guru Granth Sahib with his feet, but he was immediately caught and taken to room number 50. Another eyewitness who did not want to identify himself said the person in question was waiting for 'darshan' among the devotees, but suddenly scaled the safety railing and tried to take the golden sword kept in front of the saroop (copy) of Sri Guru Granth Sahib. A third eyewitness reported that the man had tried to pick the flower petals placed nearby. One Baljinder Singh claimed that he had broken two fingers of the youth. "When we asked him about his identity, he said he didn't know about himself, then the sangat began hitting him with iron bangles on his head and he died," he added. Meanwhile, activists of many Sikh religious organisations gathered outside the Golden Temple and staged a dharna, demanding to see the corpse. Reacting to the sacrilege, Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) president Harjinder Singh Dhami said, "There is a conspiracy behind this and some forces are trying to vitiate the peaceful atmosphere of Punjab. The incident needs to be investigated." When asked who would gain by such a plot, he said, "I don't want to say who will be benefited. The incident had severely hurt the Sikh religious sentiments, but thankfully the Singh sahib didn't let the recital be disrupted." He said he had asked both the SGPC employees as well as police to check the CCTV footage and thoroughly investigate the incident. When asked about the killing of the person allegedly responsible for the blasphemy, he said, "People take action in self-defence also. In this case, Sikhs' religious sentiments were hurt and they had to react." Wondering why such incidents kept happening, Dhami said that in the recent past SGPC sewadars had nabbed a person who had thrown the holy gutka into the sarovar of Golden Temple. The SGPC president, in a release issued late Saturday evening said, "During the recitation of Sodar Rehras Sahib today, a man jumped over the safety grill and entered the sanctum sanctorum and picked up the sword kept in front of Sri Guru Granth Sahib, but he was apprehended by the sewadars on duty, and died due to beating by the sangat." He alleged that it was unfortunate that instead of exposing the forces working behind the culprits who had been arrested in the past, they were released after being declared as mentally ill. "It is the failure of the governments and agencies who could not reach the people working behind such culprits," he added Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Harpreet Singh said it and it cuuld be a deliberate act during the election times, and the government or the culprit would be responsible if the sangat kills the culprits of sacrilege. "It is a very unfortunate incident, even a few days back someone had thrown the pages of gutka sahib in the sarovar of Golden Temple and again an insane person tried the sacrilege," he said President of SAD(D) Paramjit Singh Sarna said, "I appreciate the promptness with which the youth was nabbed and the continuation of recital of paath by the granthi, and at the same time I justify the killing of the person responsible for blasphemous act." Former president of Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) Manjit Singh GK said. "This person deserved capital punishment, but the legal way." He also sought a detailed inquiry to get to the bottom of the conspiracy, if any. Former acting president of DSGMC turned BJP leader Manjinder Singh Sirsa said, "The incident has sent shock waves throughout the world as never in the history of Darbar Sahib has such an attempt been made." He alleged that the failure of the Congress government to solve sacrilege cases has resulted in repeat of such incidents. He said that it should also be probed why such incidents occur at the time when elections are round the corner and should be condemned in strongest possible words.

The Times of India

2021-12-19

Amritsar