On October 9, a group of Sikhs barged into Ramleela ground and disrupted Ramleela that was being organized by Shri Sanatan Dharma Ramleela Committee. OpIndia reached out to organizers, activists and Police to get more information about the case.
OpIndia reached out to Raju Jain, Senior Vice President, Shri Sanatan Dharma Ramleela Committee. He said, on Saturday, Ramleela was scheduled to start at 9 PM. Sant Baba Sukhbir Singh Ji Kandhola Wale, who is a saint and lives in a nearby village, was the chief guest. After he arrived at the venue, a group of Sikhs barged into the premises and started abusing Singh and other attendees.
‘Everything happened on the pretext of farmer protests’
According to Jain, though they called themselves farmers and alleged that they came to mark their protest, the intentions were different. He said, “They called themselves farmers. It all happened on the pretext of farmer protests. But in reality, things were different. They called out Sant Sukhbir and asked him how being a Sikh, he could attend a Hindu festival. They asked him to leave immediately.”
Jain said when Sant Sukhbir Singh tried to counter their argument, things got violent. “Sant Sukhbir tried to calm them down. He said that we should not divide Hindus and Sikhs. He tried to convince them of the fact that there is no difference between Bhagwan Ram, Waheguru and Guru Nanak. They all are ours. However, after listening to Sant Sukhbir, they got aggressive and started abusing him. When we tried to intervene, they abused and threatened us too. While threatening, abusing and attacking the attendees, they claimed they would stop Ramleela proceedings.”
Police dispersed the attackers
When the organizers noticed that things were going out of their hands, they immediately contacted SSP. SHO reached Ramleela ground with the Police force and dispersed the crowd. The organizers filed a complaint to SSP and DC.
The complaint filed by organizers
In the complaint, the organizers requested DC to take action against the miscreants who wanted to divide Hindus and Sikhs so that such incidents do not happen in the future. They further added if no action was taken against the attackers, the Hindu groups, temples and organizations would shut down their gates and submit the keys to the city administration. They said Ramleela proceedings would also seize if no action was taken.
‘Police registered FIR after pressure’
OpIndia reached out to Harminder Pal Singh, Shri Shiv Shakti Parbhat Feri Sewa Samiti. Singh is actively perusing the case along with Shri Sanatan Dharma Ramleela Committee. While talking about the incident, Singh said that when the attackers abused Sant Sukhbir, he told them not to divide Hindus and Sikhs. Sant Sukhbir also informed them he himself had donated over 50 lakh for the farmer protests, and they should not mix religious and political functions. However, the attackers did not listen to him and kept saying that he should not have come to attend a Hindu festival.
Singh said that though they had filed a complaint against the attackers the next day, no action was taken against them. Thus, they decided to mark their protest against the inaction of the Police. On Tuesday, all Durga Pandals, Ramleela proceedings and other religious places shut down the lights in the evening as a mark of protest.
Harminder added that their way of protest worked, and DC and SHO reached out to them and requested not to continue with the protest. The Police promised to file a case against the attackers, after which they switched on the lights and continued with the festivities. However, till 5 PM on Wednesday, no action was taken.
Several Hindu groups got united against the delay from the Police side and sat in protest at Ramleela ground. “They called us to meet, but we refused as we were sure the Police would try to avoid filing FIR and get the attackers to apologize for what they had done. We sternly told them that we would come only after you send us the copy of FIR.”
FIR registered against the attackers
Based on the complaint filed by the organizers, Police has registered FIR under Section 296 (disturbing religious assembly), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 341 (wrongful restrain). OpIndia reached out to SSP Vivek Sheel Soni to find out more details of the case. SSP Soni said that those who had attacked attendees at Ramleela ground were members of farmer unions. They went there to mark their protest as they thought BJP leaders were scheduled to visit. They alleged BJP was trying to convert a religious event into a political event.
However, as the organizers of the event sought action against the attackers, the Police have filed an FIR. The investigation would reveal the real intentions of the attackers. SSP Soni said as there was no communal
What does the FIR say?
The FIR has been registered against Daljit Singh Gill, Jagjit Singh and some unknown. Statement of Ashwani Kumar, General Secretary, Shri Sanatan Dharma Ramleela Committee, was recorded by the Police.
Based on the statement given by Ashwani Kumar, when Ramleela was about to begin, Daljit Singh Gill and his brother Jagjit Singh Gill arrived with some of their associates on the ground. They were holding batons in their hands. They stopped Sant Sukhbir from entering the premises, and when he tried to argue with them, they started raising slogans. They used abusive language against Sant Sukhbir and other attendees. After that, Sant Sukhbir left the ground without attending Ramleela. The organizers informed the Police about the incident. When the attackers saw Police, they hid their weapons and picked up flags of farmer protests.
OpIndia also reached out to Ashwani Kumar. While talking about the incident, he said, “We respect all religions. We do not want any divide between Hindus and Sikhs. However, that does not mean we would tolerate any such attacks on our religion. This is why we want to take this case ahead and seek strict punishment against the culprits.” Kumar added that the culprits tried to disrupt Ramleela under the pretext of farmer protests, and such incidents should not happen in the future. “This is why they should be punished as per the law so that everyone gets the message that we will not tolerate any such attack in the future,” he said.
’Over 70-year-long history of organizing Ramleela’
While talking to OpIndia, Jain said that Shri Sanatan Dharma Ramleela Committee has been organizing Ramleela every year for over 70 years. In all these years, only during the Covid-19 pandemic, Ramleela did not take place last year. He added that they never faced any problems earlier.
