On December 18, a man was lynched to death by the Sikh Sangat (Sikh devotees) in Shri Harmandir Sahib Gurudwara (Golden Temple) in Amritsar over an alleged attempt to disrespect the holiest book of Sikh religion, Shri Guru Granth Sahib Ji. As the CCTV footage showed, the young man jumped into the Sanctorum where the holy book was placed. He picked up the kirpan (sword) that was placed next to the holy book. By that time, Sikh Sangat present got into action and grabbed him. Reports suggest the Sangat alleged he was trying to desecrate Shri Guru Granth Sahib Ji.
The man was lynched by the Sangat, and his body was placed outside the Gurudwara premises. Notably, no political leader or the Police said a single word about people taking the law into their own hands and lynching the person accused of disrespecting the holy book. Notably, this is not the first time someone has been killed over accusations of sacrilege of a holy book linked to Sikhism. Several such lynchings have taken place in the recent past.
The Singhu Border Lynching case
On the intervening night of October 14 and October 15, a man identified as Lakhbir Singh from a small village of Punjab was murdered at Singhu Border, where farmer protests were going on. His right hand was chopped, and the dead body was hung on a barricade at the Kundli border by Nihang Sikhs. It was alleged that Lakhbir tried to run away with the Sikh Holy book Sarbloh Granth linked to Nihang Sikhs.
It is still unclear why Lakhbir, who was a Dalit Sikh, went to the Singhu border without informing his family. No one knows why he did what Nihang Sikhs alleged that he did. Several arrests were made in connection to the murder of Lakhbir Singh. The action taken by Nihang Sikhs was praised by many claiming the governments have failed to take any strict action against those who disrespect the holy books.
Gurdaspur lynching case
On the intervening night of July 1 and July 2, an Army staffer, identified as Deepak Kumar, was lynched in a Gurudwara located in a village near Gurdaspur, Punjab. He was lynched for allegedly committing sacrilege against Shri Guru Granth Sahib Ji. Daljit Singh Kashmir alias Bobby was booked as the main accused in the case, among others. Damdami Taksal Jatha Rajpura, actor-turned-activist and Republic Day riots accused Deep Sidhu, and several others came in support of Daljit Singh and justified the lynching.
CCTV footage revealed that Deepak Singh had visited Gurudwara to drink water after getting off the bus at the wrong bus stop. According to SP Harvinder Singh, Jaspinder Singh, Granthi, Gurudwara Sahib noticed Deepak Singh in the Gurudwara premises. He told Deepak to leave immediately, which he did. Later, when other members of Gurudwara, including the main accused Daljit Singh, came, he informed them about Deepak Singh and told them that he suspected blasphemy. Allegedly, they had found some pieces of bricks and stones near the door.
After hearing this, they then went out of the Gurdwara to find Deepak Singh. CCTV footage also showed Jaspinder Singh and Daljit Singh Kashmiri slapping Deepak in front of Gurudwara Tehel Singh. He was standing by the road when the accused arrived on a two-wheeler, stopped near him and slapped him. After that, they dragged him onto the motorcycle, forcefully made him sit on it and brought him back to the Gurudwara premises, where he was allegedly lynched. Gurjit Singh, Harjeet Kaur and Darkirat Singh are from the same family and manage the Gurudwara located at Tibri Chowk. All accused, including one juvenile, was arrested in the case.
The murder of main accused of Bargari sacrilege case in jail
On June 22, 2019, Mohinder Pal Singh Bittoo, a Dera Sacha Sauda follower and the main accused of the 2015 Bargari sacrilege case, was murdered by two of his inmates in high-security Nabha prison in Patiala. According to the reports, the incident took place at 5:45 PM. Two of the inmates, identified as Gursewak Singh and Maninder Singh, attacked him with rods and lynched him to death. He was rushed to the hospital but declared brought dead.
49-years-old Mohinder Pal Bittu was accused of sacrilege in 2015 in Faridkot district’s Bargari and was arrested on June 9, 2018, for allegedly hurting religious sentiments, carrying an illegal weapon and his alleged involvement in unlawful activities by an SIT of Punjab Police probing the four-year-old sacrilege incidents. He was shifted to Nabha Jail after he feared danger to his life ten months prior to the incident.
The murder of main accused of Ghawaddi sacrilege case
On July 26, 2016, 47-year-old Balwinder Kaur was shot dead in broad daylight by two motorcycle-borne men who appeared to be Amritdhari Sikhs. Kaur was the main accused of desecrating Shri Guru Granth Sahib Ji in October 2015. As per reports, her younger son, Ranjodh Singh, was also targeted, but the gun misfired. A letter was dropped by the killers that suggested they killed her to take avenge for sacrilege.
The men were later identified as Gurpreet Singh Jagowal of Amargarh of Sangrur and Nihal Singh of Patiala using CCTV footage. The Police revealed that the mother-son duo was called to provide them support for rehabilitation. The attackers had engaged in conversation with them for around 15 minutes before killing her.
Jatinder Singh Aulakh, the then-Police Commissioner, was quoted by Hindustan Times saying, “They called the woman to the Gurdwara on the pretext of helping her out with money. When she got in at 8 AM, Jagowal and Nihal, who had been waiting for 30 minutes, sat in Ranjoth’s three-wheeler. After a while, they took out what seemed like country-made pistols and shot the woman in the chest and got away on a white motorcycle parked a few metres away.”
In 2015, 20 Ang (pages of the holy book are called Ang or limbs) of Shri Guru Granth Sahib Ji were found scattered in a Gurudwara in Ghawaddi Gurudwara that caused an uproar among the Sikh community. Later, Kaur confessed to the crime. She had allegedly torn the pages and later raised the alarm about the incident herself. Some reports suggested she did it to frame the granthi.
After her death, her daughter Rajwant Kaur alleged sarpanch of the village had framed her. “My mother was an Amritdhari Sikh. How can a woman who spent seven years serving the gurdwara disrespect Guru Granth Sahib? Police arrest her for avoiding investigation, and after she got out on bail, the sarpanch barred her from the village,” she had said.
Since 2015, there have been hundreds of cases of sacrilege in Punjab linked not only to Sikhism but other religions as well. However, the sacrilege of Sikh Holy books has become a major political issue. It was one of the main issues raised by political parties in the 2017 state elections. Though Congress promised to solve the cases and assured the cases would be controlled, but the Congress-led state government failed to do so. Even in the upcoming Punjab Assembly elections, it seems sacrilege of Sikh Holy books is going to be a major political issue.
