A day after a man was lynched to death for alleged sacrilege at the Golden Temple Complex, another youth was brutally thrashed on charges of disrespecting the Nishan Sahib (Sikh flag) in Punjab. The incident took place at a Gurdwara in Nizampur village in the Kapurthala district of Punjab.
As per reports, the Gurdwara caretaker Amarjit Singh had alleged that he saw a youth desecrating the Sikh flag during the wee hours of Sunday. At around 4 am, Singh had stepped out of the Gurdwara to do Nitnem (prayers). Reportedly, the youth tried to disrespect the Nishan Sahib and had taken refuge in the Gurdwara after the lights went out.
When the lights came back, the Gurdwara managers noticed the youth and tried to nab him. A video of the incident had gone viral on social media.
After Shri Darbar Sahib Amritsar now at Kapurthala Subhanpur Road and Gurudwara Nazampur Mor also today on 19-12-2021 in the morning an attempt was made by a youth to disrespect Guru Sahib. The sangat arrested the accused on the spot. pic.twitter.com/FOeN7FdtVT
— Jagtar Singh Bhullar (@jagtarbhullar) December 19, 2021
He attempted to flee the scene but was caught. The youth was then brutally thrashed. While speaking about the matter, Gurdwara caretaker Amarjit Singh said, “When I challenged the suspect, he tried to escape in dark but he was caught after some time. The suspect only told that he was “sent” from Delhi and a sister of his has also been ‘killed for sacrilege’ at another place”. The authorities also claimed to have recovered several identity cards from the youth.
The ‘blasphemy’ accused allegedly conceded that he had come from Delhi to carry out the act of sacrilege in exchange for money. However, he refused to divulge additional information about his identity and real name. Meanwhile, the villagers had threatened to punish him as per Sikh traditions. According to Amarjit Singh, the matter was escalated to the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee in Amritsar. A team will soon visit Nizampur village from Amritsar.
Man lynched at Golden Temple Complex
On Saturday (December 18), a man was killed after an alleged sacrilege at the Golden Temple in Amritsar. The incident of sacrilege happened inside the sanctum sanctorum of Darbar Sahib in the evening, when regular prayers were going on. CCTV footage shows that suddenly a man entered the sanctum sanctorum and hit the holy Granth Sahib with a Kirpan.
Reportedly, he had picked up the golden Kirpan from the sanctum sanctorum of the Gurudwara itself, which was placed near the holy Sikh Scripture. He had also stepped close to the Granth Sahib, which is also considered a sacrilege of the holy book. Soon after the incident, the accused was surrounded by people present at the temple.
Initially, he was taken into custody by Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) staff and moved to the SGPC headquarters. But later his dead body was placed near the SGPC main gate, which suggests that he was beaten to death by the staff in the office. After the man’s body was placed on the floor in front of SGPC office, people gathered around him and celebrated instant justice. They chanted Sikh religious slogans to celebrate the murder.
Update: The man has now been lynched by the mob.
