Following the lynching of two unidentified men for their sacrilege attempts at Amritsar and Kapurthala, former Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh on Tuesday, 21 December, condemned the killings, saying it is "absolutely unacceptable".
Singh said, "Sacrilege is wrong but it is also wrong to kill a person. What is this way? There is a law in this land. If you take him (the accused) to the SGPC office, interrogate him, and then kill him? Is this the way? This is illegal and this is absolutely unacceptable”, news agency PTI reported.
"There is no justification for mob lynching whatsoever... it is condemnable," Singh added.
The first of these incidents took place on the evening of Saturday, 18 December, at Harmandir Sahib (Golden Temple) in Amritsar, where a man in his twenties climbed over the railing and jumped near the area where the Guru Granth Sahib is placed.
He also grabbed the sword that had been donated by Maharaja Ranjit Singh in the 19th century. The man, who is alleged to be from Uttar Pradesh, was apprehended by the Sevadars and allegedly beaten to death.
The man's attempt to sacrilege took place during Rehras Sahib, the daily evening prayers. It was captured by a Punjabi TV channel that telecasts the proceedings from the temple live.
Confirming the news of his death, Parminder Singh Bhandal, the deputy commissioner of Police of Amritsar, had told NDTV:
"The man, about 20 to 25 years of age who had a yellow cloth tied on his head, jumped the fence... the people inside held him and escorted him out to the corridor where there was a violent altercation and he died."
Barely a few hours later, in the early hours of 19 December, a person was caught after allegedly desecrating the Nishan Sahib at a gurdwara in Nizampura, Kapurthala. He was allegedly beaten to death by a mob before the police could take him away.
According to reports, the man was a migrant worker from Bihar's Gopalganj.
Residents of Nijampur village in Kapurthala district allegedly saw the man disrespecting the Nishan Sahib (the Sikh flag) at the village Gurudwara around 4 am. They managed to grab hold of him around 5 am.
The villagers said the man admitted that he had come there to commit sacrilege. However, Harkamalpreet Singh Khakh, SSP Kapurthala, had said that the man may have been attempting to commit a theft when he was caught by the men.
A video of the incident had also gone viral on social media where the alleged suspect could be seen being beaten up by members of the Sikh community, with his hands tied behind his back.
(With inputs from PTI.)
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