THE SIKH Sangat called off their protest Sunday evening after police said they had identified the printing press where Sikh religious book ‘Guru Granth Sahib’, whose torn pages were found in a canal, was printed.
One person, Raghbur Singh, was also arrested from Amritsar in connection with the desecration incident.
The Sikh Sangat had begun protesting Saturday morning after the torn pages of the Guru Granth Sahib as well as Hindu religious text Bhagwat Gita’ were found in the canal in the area.
The Jalandhar police registered a case under 295 (a) (hurting religious sentiments) of the IPC.
Watch What Else is Making News
Meanwhile, seven more ‘ang’ (parts) of the Guru Granth Sahib were recovered from the canal Sunday following which several political leaders except SAD leaders and Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) members joined protesters during the day.
“Path” (religious discourse) was performed and ‘langar’ (community food) was served at the spot of the dharna. The printing press has been identified as Jawahar Singh Kirpal Singh printing press in Amritsar, said police. Notably, no other printing press can print copies of Guru Granth Sahib except that of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee.
A police officer said directions to arrest the owner of the printing press have been issued, adding that they will then go after those who had purchased these copies.
During the day, Congress MP Santokh Singh Chaudhary along with DCC president (urban and Rural ) Rajinder Beri and others condemned the act strongly.
Lambasting the SAD-BJP government, Chaudhary said the sudden rise in such incidents is the result of the callous handling of the previous such incidents at Bargari and Tarn Taran.
Delhi CM and AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal and Jagmeet Singh Brar also joined the dharna.
Kejriwal alleged that these incidents were repeatedly being carried out by the SAD to divide and polarise voters before the 2017 elections.
“They (SAD) will come to you now and say ‘panth nu vote pao, panth nu khatra hai te’. Don’t get confused as our Panth is in danger because of these Akalis, who are behind the desecration incidents,” he said.
Pranksters behind desecrations: Badal
Amritsar: Punjab CM Parkash Singh Badal said pranksters were behind the episodes of desecrations in Punjab. He was here to attend the first death ceremony of the Sawinder Kaur, wife of former Punjab Vidhan Sabha speaker Nirmal Singh Kahlon, at Kahlon village in Gurdaspur on Sunday.
“Some anti-social elements and pranksters are behind such incidents. Anyone with a conscience cannot do it. It is the work of pranksters. It is conspiracy to disturb peace and harmony in state,” said the Punjab Chief minister.