E-Paper
2016 murder of woman: Accused sentenced to life imprisonment
The recent killing of a Delhi youngster by a Nihang in a Phagwara gurdwara shows the audacity with which the law of the land is ignored. A status check of an incident that took place in Ludhiana
Punjab has seen a series of incidents where suspects in sacrilege incidents have been shot or lynched by people out to mete them instant justice. The recent killing of a Delhi youngster by a Nihang in a Phagwara gurdwara shows the audacity with which the law of the land is ignored. A status check of an incident that took place in Ludhiana
What happened
A 47-year-old woman was killed by two men for allegedly desecrating Guru Granth Sahib at a local gurdwara in Ludhiana’s Ghawaddi village on July 26, 2016. The woman, Balwinder Kaur, who was a baptised Sikh, and a ‘granthi’, Sikandar Singh, were arrested for sacrilege on October 19, 2015. The woman was doing ‘Sewa’ for seven years at the gurdwara.
The duo, Jaspreet Singh alias Nihal Singh from Patiala’s Ranjit Nagar and Gurpreet Singh alias Khalsa aka Baba from Sangrur’s Amargarh, had called the woman to Gurdwara Manji Sahib at Alamgir village on the pretext of helping her out with money on the day of the incident. The two motorcycle-borne men shot her in full public view outside the gurdwara. They had dropped a letter saying they had avenged sacrilege.
Case status: Ten accused were arrested by Ludhiana Police in the murder case. Nihal and Gurpreet were sentenced to rigorous life imprisonment for killing the woman by additional sessions judge Lukhvinder Kaur Duggal on July 13, 2021. Another man, Harbans Singh, was also found guilty and sentenced to 3 years rtigorous imprisonment. The rest of the accused were acquitted by court.
