Jasdev Singh
In a very unfortunate attempt to poison the society and de-stabilise Punjab, a man committed sacrilege inside the sanctum sanctorum of the Golden Temple in Punjab's Amritsar. According to an eyewitness, the man tried to jump the metal grills behind which the Guru Granth Sahib, central holy religious scripture of Sikhs, was kept but was apprehended by SGPC staff. When he was being taken to the SGPC office, the angry crowd thrashed him badly that later led to his death.
According to reports, a person was arrested on Wednesday for allegedly throwing holy gutka (a book of Gurbani) into the lake of the Golden Temple in Amritsar. Staff members of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) apprehended the man, identified as Ranbir Singh, posted in the temple premises and handed him over to the police.
The footage obtained from the CCTV camera showed that the man suddenly jumped inside the holy enclosure and started hitting the holy Granth Sahib with a Kirpan. As per reports, the man had got access to the kirpan from the Gurudwara itself that was placed near the holy Sikh Scripture. He was nabbed by the on-duty Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) employees. During all this, the priest continued with the recitation of the 'path'.
In this case, SGPC executive member Bhai Gurpreet Singh Randhawa said on social media, "I condemn the unfortunate incident in Sri Amritsar Sahib, the Punjab government should immediately investigate.'' On the other hand, Amritsar Police DCP Parminder Singh confirmed the incident and said, "The body of the deceased has been taken for postmortem. It seems he was alone at the time.''
The matter is under investigation. Punjab Home Minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa has also confirmed this. Punjab Chief Minister Charanjeet Singh Channi has said, "I condemn the unfortunate and heinous act of attempting to insult Shri Guru Granth Sahib during the recitation of Shri Rehras Sahib in the sanctum sanctorum of Shri Harimandir Sahib. An inquiry has been ordered into the matter.''
This incident is shocking and extremely painful. This has caused deep anguish and outrage in the minds of the Sikh masses across the world. It is unbelievable that a single person can commit such a painful and ruthless act. A deep conspiracy behind this cannot be ruled out. The government should investigate this matter seriously.
Less than 24 hours this incident, another case of killing for the same reason was reported in Punjab on Sunday.A man was beaten to death for allegedly disrespecting 'Nishan Sahib' (the Sikh religious flag) at a Gurdwara in village Nizampur in Kapurthala district on Sunday.
It’s time that the community hits out at divisive forces trying to disrupt peace and destroy the communal fabric of Punjab. These nefarious designs shouldn’t be allowed to find any space in Punjabis who have lived harmoniously for centuries, cutting across religion, caste and creed.
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