Excommunicated Langah’s parents move Akal Takht for his pardon

AMRITSAR : Over three years after former minister Sucha Singh Langah, 55, was excommunicated from the Sikh Panth his octogenarian parents on Wednesday approached the Akal Takht, the highest temporal seat of Sikhs, to seek pardon for him. The action against Langah was taken after a video clip showing him in an objectionable position with a woman had gone viral.

Langah’s father Tara Singh, 89, and mother Pritam Kaur, 88, have submitted an application in the Akal Takht secretariat. They said the family had suffered mentally and socially as the acting Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Harpeeet Singh has been rejecting Langah’s repeated pleas of clemency. Langah had been spotted outside the Akal Takht for a few days last week. On April 21, Sikh bodies had submitted a memorandum to the jathedar requesting him not to entertain Langah’s clemency plea.

Langah and his family have been trying to secure pardon ahead of the 2022 assembly elections in Punjab. Langah’s son Sukhjinder Singh Sonu Langah may contest the election.

“We are old and in the final stages of life. We have faith in Gurmat (teachings of the Sikh religion). Our son has been seeking pardon for his mistakes by visiting the Akal Takht time and again. He has also assured that he would comply with the orders of the Akal Takht in future. We request that he should be brought back into the panth,” Langah’s parents say in their application to the Takht, while also citing their infirmity.