Two arrested for sacrilege at Jalandhar village gurdwara

JALANDHAR : Police have arrested two persons for allegedly committing sacrilege at a gurdwara in Mansurpur village of Phillaur sub-division in Jalandhar district on Sunday night.

The accused have been identified as Guddu, 23, and Ramesh, 25, who belong to Uttar Pradesh and were presently residing in Dosanjh Kalan village of the district.

While police managed to arrest Ramesh, Sikh groups refused to give Guddu’s custody to the police. The stalemate finally ended late on Monday evening. Senior police officials, including Jalandhar range inspector general of police Gursharan Singh Sandhu, Jalandhar senior superintendent of police Swarandeep Singh reached the spot to control the situation.

The Sikh groups were demanding interrogation of the accused after 48 hours since he was drunk. He was kept at the gurdwara kitchen for more than 12 hours. The Jalandhar range IG said they secured the custody of the accused after assuring the Sikh groups for a fair and transparent probe.

Police said the two accused broke into the gurdwara premises to steal money from ‘golak’ (donation box) and also spit tobacco on the premises. Gurdwara granthi Paramjit Singh said that the accused consumed tobacco, alcohol and damaged costume of Guru Granth Sahib.

The SSP said that the accused failed to break the collection box then they committed sacrilege on the place where Guru Granth Sahib got installed.

A case under Section 307 (attempt to murder), 295-A (hurting religious sentiments), 120-B and other relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code has been registered at the Goraya police station in Jalandhar district. Police said the accused landed in Punjab during the paddy season and were presently working as daily wagers.

Shiromani Akali Dal chief Sukhbir Singh Badal condemned the incident and urged chief minister Bhagwant Mann and Punjab Police chief Gaurav Yadav to take immediate and stringent action against the culprits. Bholath Congress MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira shared a video of the incident on Twitter and said that he was pained by the sacrilege.

The Akal Takht and SGPC have also condemned the incident. Takht acting Jathedar Giani Harpreet Singh said, “It is sad that such incidents are not stopping. Whenever such incidents happen, the Sikh sentiments get hurt.”