Samana sacrilege: Gutka Sahib pages torn 4-year-old behind incident, say cops citing CCTV footage

According to the police, the child had picked up a Gutka Sahib from outside the house of a ragpicker on the day of the incident

The Samana police on Wednesday claimed to have solved the Samana sacrilege case, attributing the incident to an unintentional act by a four-year-old boy. The incident came to light on Tuesday morning when torn pages of a Sikh holy scripture were found scattered outside a shop on the Samana–Bhawanigarh road.

The 4-year-old boy allegedly tore pages of the book and threw them outside a shop. (HT File)

According to the police, the child had picked up a Gutka Sahib from outside the house of a ragpicker on the day of the incident, while on his way to the government elementary school in Samana in an e-rickshaw. The e-rickshaw had stopped outside the house of the ragpicker to pick up another child.

The boy allegedly tore pages of the book and threw them outside a shop where the vehicle halted briefly around 8:45 am, the police added.

“The sequence of events was captured on CCTV cameras. During the probe, the Gutka Sahib was recovered from the pocket of the child’s school trousers, while its hardcover was found outside the ragpicker’s residence,” Samana CIA in-charge Ankurdeep Singh said, adding, “He committed the act inadvertently without understanding its importance.”

Superintendent of police Gurban Bains said, “The boy was not aware of the book’s importance. The investigation so far indicates no deliberate intent, though a thorough probe will continue.” Police had earlier registered an FIR under Sections 298 and 299 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) against an unidentified person.

The Dharam Yudh Morcha, which has been protesting near the incident site for a stricter sacrilege law since February this year, rejected the police probe and demanded an impartial probe.