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Day after incident, another man lynched over alleged sacrilege

By, Kapurthala
Dec 20, 2021 02:26 AM IST

Police, however, said there was “no visible sign” of sacrilege and it appeared as though the man had the intention of committing theft at the gurdwara.

A day after a man was killed over an alleged sacrilege bid at the Golden Temple, another unidentified person was beaten to death for allegedly disrespecting a Sikh religious flag at a gurdwara in Punjab’s Kapurthala district on Sunday, officials familiar with the matter said.

Police at Golden Temple ahead of Punjab chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi's visit, in Amritsar, on Sunday. (PTI)
Police at Golden Temple ahead of Punjab chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi's visit, in Amritsar, on Sunday. (PTI)

Police, however, said there was “no visible sign” of sacrilege and it appeared as though the man had the intention of committing theft at the gurdwara.

Providing details, Kapurthala senior superintendent of police (SSP) Harkamalpreet Singh Khakh said the incident took place in Nizampur village when villagers and members of Sikh organisations kept the man hostage and refused to hand him over to police despite repeated requests.

Khakh said the villagers were infuriated after the man, who was believed to be in his 20s and a migrant worker, allegedly disrespected the Nishan Sahib (a Sikh flag) in the wee hours of the day. The gurdwara’s manager, Amarjit Singh, said he saw the man committing the sacrilege.

Singh claimed the man attempted to flee but was caught by the gurdwara sewadars (volunteers) after a chase, the SSP said.

“After a video of Singh narrating the early morning incident went viral on social media, a mob comprising villagers and members of Sikh groups gathered outside the gurdwara to punish the man,” Khakh said.

On receiving information, police rushed to the spot and urged the Sikh groups to hand over the accused. As police tried to control the mob, a clash erupted and it was during this time that the protesters brutally thrashed the man, the SSP said.

The man was rushed in a critically injured condition to the local civil hospital where doctors declared him “brought dead”. Meanwhile, three police personnel, including the station house officer of Shubanpur police station, were injured in the clash, police said.

“They killed the youth even as police tried their level best to handle the situation,” the SSP said.

The protesters, police said, claimed that various state governments had always failed to deliver justice in sacrilege incidents having taken place in the past.

However, Jalandhar inspector general of police (IGP) Gurinder Singh Dhillon told reporters that a preliminary probe indicated that no sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib, the religious book of the Sikhs, or other religious textbooks like Gutka Sahib had taken place. There was no visible sign of any disrespect to the Nishan Sahib, he said.

“Still we have registered a case under section 295-A (hurting religious sentiments) and other relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code at Kotwali police station, Kapurthala, on the basis of a complaint by the gurdwara’s manager. A probe is underway,” Dhillon said.

Police said two school ID cards were found with the accused and a woman claimed that the cards belonged to her children.

While the SSP had earlier said that a murder case would be registered against the accused, he and Dhillon later clarified that no separate case will be filed and the murder angle will be probed under the same FIR.

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