SGPC panel visits Nabha jail; says no sacrilege of gutkas took place

The five-member panel that the Akal Takht had formed to look into the alleged sacrilege of ‘gutkas’ at the Nabha jail visited the maximum-security facility on Thursday.

The five-member panel that the Akal Takht had formed to look into the alleged sacrilege of ‘gutkas’ at the Nabha jail visited the maximum-security facility on Thursday. These gutkas had been sent for Sikh prisoners lodged in the jail last week, but officials had kept these with themselves for inspection.

HT Image

The team comprised Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) members Amarjit Singh Chawla; Bhai Manjit Singh; advocate Bhagwant Singh Sialka; Gurdwara Bir Baba Budha Sahib head granthi Giani Nishan Singh and additional secretary of the SGPC Paramjit Singh Saroa (coordinator). It held talks with the jail administration and the prisoners for about four hours and settled the dispute amicably.

“We can’t call the handling of the gutkas as sacrilege. It was, however, definitely negligence in duty as officials kept the holy books with themselves without reason. The issue has been resolved. Officials have given an assurance that they will be more careful in future,” Amarjit Singh Chawla, a member of the panel, told HT.

Prisoners had claimed that the jail administration did not follow the ‘maryada’ (Sikh religious code of conduct) in handling the holy books and stored these without due respect and care. They also alleged that the books were handed over to them after many days of their arrival, and too, only after they protested.

Prisoners were now demanding that officials involved should apologise at the Akal Takht and even threatened to launch a hunger strike in protest. Jagtar Singh Hawara, one of the convicts in the assassination of former Punjab chief minister Beant Singh, had also supported the protesters. Hawara had formed a committee and announced that a dharna would be staged outside the jail on February 29.

Jail superintendent Ramanjit Singh Bhangu told HT, “The holy books were kept with due respect. The books came late in the evening. Officials did not inspect the gutkas immediately, as the pages were to touched only after following the maryada the next day.”

Quote

We can’t call the handling of the gutkas as sacrilege. It was, however, definitely negligence in duty as officials kept the holy books with themselves without reason. The issue has been resolved.

Amarjit Singh Chawla, SGPC 

member, part of Akal Takht panel