Punjab: Second man lynched over alleged sacrilege

A day after a man was killed for an alleged sacrilege attempt at the Golden Temple in Amritsar in the northern Indian state of Punjab, another unidentified person faced the same fate as he was lynched by a mob for “disrespecting” the Sikh religious flag at a gurdwara in Nizampur village in the state’s Kapurthala district.

According to the Press Trust of India, villagers and members of Sikh organisations clashed with police personnel after they tried to save the man, leaving three cops including a higher-ranked officer injured. The incident happened on Sunday (19).

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According to the police, there was “no visible sign” of sacrilege having taken place at the gurdwara located on the Kapurthala-Subhnapur road. The manager of the gurdwara, Amarjit Singh, however, claimed that he saw the man, who appeared to be a migrant worker, trying to dishonour the ‘Nishan Sahib’ (religious flag) early in the morning after he came out for daily prayers.

He said the accused man fled but was caught by the gurdwara ‘sewadars’ (workers) who chased him. The manager then went live on his Facebook page making the claims of sacrilege but the police said he was trying to give an impression of such an attempt.

They said the unidentified man was eating chappatis (Indian hand-made bread) in the kitchen on the ground floor of the gurdwara complex. He ran away when a ‘sewadar’ saw him.

The cops rushed to the gurdwara after learning about the incident. The accused, in his twenties, was kept in a room. Villagers and members of Sikh organisations came to the gurdwara complex and did not allow the policemen to take the man to the police station.

They entered the room with swords and sticks forcibly and clashed with the police before thrashing the accused heavily. The police then took him to a local hospital in a critical condition and the doctors declared him “brought dead”.

Talking to reporters, inspector general of police Gurinder Singh Dhillon said there is no visible event of sacrilege at the gurdwara.

“Everything was found intact including the holy Guru Granth Sahib,” he said.

Senior superintendent of police Harkamalpreet Singh Khakh, however, said the man had the intention of stealing in the gurdwara.

A case under section 295-A (hurting religious sentiments of people) of the Indian Penal Code on the basis of the statement of the gurdwara manager has been registered, added Dhillon.

The incident came a day after an unidentified man was beaten to death after he allegedly attempted to commit “sacrilege” inside the sanctum sanctorum of the Golden Temple on Saturday evening.