Eight detained for praying at gurdwara, FIR registered

Eight people were detained and a first information report (FIR) registered after a group of men were found to be praying at Gurdwara Sisganj in north Delhi in the

Eight people were detained and a first information report (FIR) registered after a group of men were found to be praying at Gurdwara Sisganj in north Delhi in the early hours of Sunday, the police said. All of them were later released.

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The eight men have been served notices under the CrPc and the FIR has been registered under Indian Penal Code sections pertaining to disobedience to order promulgated by a public servant and negligent act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life.

The police said the congregation came to light around 2.15am on Sunday, when a team of Kotwali police station staff checked the gurdwara to find several people performing path (recitation of the religious text) .

“There were over a dozen people assembled there. When they saw the police, they began running. We apprehended eight of them,” said Monika Bhardwaj, deputy commissioner of police (north district).

None of them was wearing protective face masks and had violated the order that prohibits any gathering at religious places during the lockdown, said the officer.

Manjinder Singh Sirsa, the president of the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee, said what the gatherers had done was wrong and pleaded with the Sikh community to offer prayers from their homes.

“I have been appealing from the Gurdwaras to the Sikh community to stay indoors. The law is for all religions and we must rise above religion to ensure everyone is safe. I appeal to them again,” said Sirsa.

Earlier, the police had registered a case against the management of the gurdwara in Majnu Ka Tila for violating prohibitory orders and the 21-day lockdown norms put in place to prevent the spread of the Sars-Cov-2 virus which causes Covid-19, after 227 persons from Punjab were evacuated from there. They were later shifted to two quarantine centres in the city.