In a deplorable incident, an elderly woman from Bihar was brutally assaulted by two Sikh men for allegedly smoking inside the Golden Temple complex in Amristar.
A video went viral on social media platforms this week in which a group of Sikh men were seen thrashing the elderly woman for allegedly smoking inside the Golden Temple complex. The woman in a red saree was seen sitting next to a child.
ये क्या हैं? एक औरत पर सरे आम हाथ उठा रहे हैं, बहरमी से मार रहे हैं, मेरे हाथ काप रहे हैं ये लिखते हुए, मेरी माँ मुझे याद आ रही हैं, @AmitShah @narendramodi यदि इस माँ को इंसाफ़ नहीं मिला तो हम कहीं मुँह दिखाने के क़ाबिल नहीं रहेंगे, कृपा कर इंसाफ़ दे। pic.twitter.com/qK1YqYZFI1
— Singh Varun (@singhvarun) March 17, 2022
According to reports, the woman was allegedly caught smoking inside the premises of the golden temple by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) task force. In the video, Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) workers can be seen confronting, coercing an elderly woman to confess her mistake and slapping her.
In the video, the woman asked for forgiveness, saying that she was not aware of the rules of the holy shrine. The woman said she had only taken out the cigarette but not smoked it. The daughter of the woman can be seen pleading and apologising, saying that her mother had committed a mistake.
However, the SGPC members did not let her go and thrashed her in the face. They were seen forcing the lady to admit that she smoked inside the Golden Temple complex.
“Here in Sachkhand Sri Harimander Sahib, you are smoking bidi,” one person said while condemning the woman, adding that she should be “sent to No. 50 (room).”
“Don’t make grievous injuries, but teach her a lesson,” another Sikh person was heard in the purported video.
No cigarettes found, no proof of woman smoking inside gurudwara
The woman was later handed over to the police by the gurdwara authorities. Upon investigation, a senior police official reportedly revealed to the Hindustan Times that there was no proof to show that the woman was smoking inside the Golden Temple.
“Those who produced the woman to the police could not show any cigarette, and even in the video, there is no proof of her smoking any cigarette. Thrashing her was inhumane,” the official said.
On the question of any action against the Sikh individuals who beat her up, the police said they did not get any complaint from the woman and claimed that prima facie, it appeared that the group thrashed the woman, believing that she belonged to a separatist Sikh body.
SGPC general secretary Karnail Singh Panjoli said that the incident occurred at around 12:00 am on Tuesday. He added that the people who thrashed the Bihar woman was not SGPC employee but devotees.
“The woman was, later on, handed over to the local police, but no written complaint was given. Even the cigarettes recovered from the woman were thrown in the sewers,” he claimed.
The video has gone viral on the internet, with netizens slamming the SGPC and its employees for showing high-handedness against its devotees, especially against an elderly woman.
