GURDAS MAAN BOOKED FOR HURTING SIKH SENTIMENTS
JALANDHAR: Noted Punjabi singer Gurdas Maan was booked on Thursday for hurting religious sentiments for his statement given last week involving Nakodar Dera Murad Shah founder Sai Laddi Shah and third Sikh master Guru Amardas.
The case was registered even as the singer had apologised for what he had said.
JALANDHAR: Police have booked noted Punjabi singer Gurdas Maan for hurting religious sentiments on Thursday for his statement, given last week, on Nakodar Dera Murad Shah founder, Sai Laddi Shah, and the third Sikh master, Guru Amardas. A video of his statement had gone viral on social media.
Jalandhar rural SSP Naveen Singla said, “A case has been registered against Maan and investigation is on.”
On August 24, Maan had posted a video on social media, offering an apology for his statement made during the annual mela at Dera Murad Shah in Nakodar.
“Gurus should never be compared with anyone and I can never even think about insulting the great gurus. If my words have hurt anyone’s sentiments, I apologise to them a 100 times,” Maan, who is also the chairman of Dera Murad Shah, says in this video.
Sikh organisations, including members of the Satkar Committee, had lodged a police complaint and sought a case against Maan. Members of these organisations had also started an indefinite protest against Jalandhar police opposite the SSP office for the past four days.
On Thursday, Sikh protesters upped the ante and gathered at the Rama Mandi Chowk on the Jalandhar-Ludhiana national highway and blocking traffic. It was then that the police lodged the FIR and got protesters to clear the highway.
Maan has been booked under Sections 295A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings) of the Indian Penal Code at Nakodar City police station in the district.
Maan had also courted controversy after in 2019, after he supported the idea of ‘One Nation, One Language’ for the country in a radio talk-show in Canada and faced protests from a section of Punjabi community, during his live show in Canada.
A senior Punjabi writer, on the condition of anonymity, said, “Gurdas Maan did not compare anyone with the guru. The issue is being blown out of proportion, even as Maan has tendered an apology. Even otherwise, many sections of society openly claim to be the descendants of the gurus or Sikh warriors. They are never booked.”