Five ‘gutkas’ found desecrated in Ludhiana colony, man held

LUDHIANA:In yet another incident of sacrilege, torn pages of five ‘gutkas’ (a collection of verses from Guru Granth Sahib) were found at Anandpuri Mohalla on Noorwala Road on Monday. A man has been arrested and he reportedly has admitted that the pages were torn by his toddler kids.

The pages were found on the roadside in Street Number 4 and were spotted by devotees going to the gurdwara at 7am. They called the police. Five ‘gutkas’ (including ‘Sukhmani Sahib’ and ‘Nitnem’) were found. Some of the pages were in a packet, rest were lying outside.

After gurdwara granthi Sukhwinder Singh announced about the sacrilege, devotees started enquiring from the families living nearby. Harpreet Singh, 26, who was a tenant at a nearby house till Saturday, admitted that pages were torn by his toddler children out of ignorance, but he didn’t know who threw them on roadside.He was then taken to the gurdwara and then handed over to the police.

Police also scanned the footage of the CCTV cameras installed in the area, but no recording regarding the incident was found. Commissioner of police Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh, said “Harpreet of Anandpuri Colony, a labourer, has been arrested. He claims that the pages were torn by his children. Investigations are on.”

The accused has been arrested under Section 295 A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs). The religious incineration of the holy books will be held at Reetha Sahib Gurdwara on April 12.