Punjab: Man arrested for sacrilege in historic Gurdwara near Amritsar

Karamjit Singh of Chabhal village was arrested for committing an outrage by copying pages of a Gutka (a prayer book) at the historic Gurdwara Bir Baba Budha Sahib, 14 km from Amritsar, on Saturday.

He was immediately caught by Gurdwara sewadars (volunteers) and handed over to the police.

According to eyewitnesses, Karamjit, who is physically challenged, had come to the Gurdwara as usual on Saturday to pay his respects. Suddenly, he took the gutka from the box, tore the pages and scattered them in the Gurdwara. The sewadars immediately stopped him.

Condemning the incident, Harjinder Singh Dhami, chairman of Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), said that sacrileges are a recurring issue in Punjab but the state government is silent. “These incidents hurt the sentiments of Sikhs. It is the government’s primary responsibility to unmask the conspiracy and expose the forces behind such incidents,” he said.

Dhami demanded strict action against the accused and pleaded for exemplary punishment for perpetrators of sacrilege.

SGPC secretary Kulwinder Singh Ramdas said the FIR was registered under Section 295 (damaging or desecrating a place of worship with intent to insult the religion of any class) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).