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Sacrilege in Barnala: Two booked after Gutka Sahib pages found scattered during Thikriwala event
The incident took place during a recent memorial event for freedom fighter Sewa Singh Thikriwala; police have detained a villager with speech impairment and his relative.
The Barnala police have registered a case against two individuals and several unidentified persons after pages of the Gutka Sahib (Sikh prayer book) were found scattered at Thikriwala village recently. The incident, which occurred during a memorial event on January 19, triggered a three-hour protest by locals demanding immediate action.
The first information report (FIR) was registered on Wednesday evening under Sections 299 (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings) and 3(5) (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
The sacrilege came to light on Monday during the event commemorating Sewa Singh Thikriwala, the leader of the Praja Mandal movement who fought against the princely states’ autocracy. According to Balbir Singh Ghunnas, a member of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), the gathering was underway when villagers discovered the torn pages and apprehended the suspects before handing them over to the police.
Village sarpanch Charanjit Singh alleged that while the incident was reported to the authorities on Monday night, a lack of action for over 24 hours forced the community to take to the streets.
“A villager with a speech disability initially showed the holy pages to the gurdwara president, indicating they were found scattered. The same individual then distributed some pages among others. This continued until night,” the sarpanch said.
The protesters lifted their blockade only after senior police officials reached the spot and assured them of a rigorous investigation.
The police have focused their probe on a 30-year-old local resident, Jagveer Singh, who has a speech and hearing impairment, and his relative, Randeep Singh, a resident of Dhuri.
Barnala deputy superintendent of police (DSP) Satvir Singh said that the investigation is sensitive given the prime suspect’s condition. “We are questioning him with the help of a sign-language expert to understand how the pages were found. His relative from Dhuri has also been rounded up for questioning,” the DSP said.
Security has been beefed up in the area to prevent any escalation of communal tension.
