Woman booked for ‘sacrilege’

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, April 25

A middle-aged woman was booked for allegedly desecration a gutka on the premises of Golden Temple here today. The accused, Bano, is a resident of Rajasthan.

It has been learnt that she had come to the holy city to pay obeisance at the Golden Temple along with her husband. She went to Akal Takht and picked up the gutka placed in an almirah. According to an SGPC employee, she tried to tear the angs (pages of gutka). Her husband was away to Beas at that time.

On the basis of the complaint of Sukhraj Singh, manager of Golden Temple, the police have registered a case under Section 295-A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) of the IPC against her.

Punjab Singh, SHO of the Galliara police station, said the accused had been arrested. “We will take her on judicial remand for investigation. It is yet to be ascertained if she actually tore the pages of the holy book. The holy book appears to have come apart. We will produce her before the court for further proceedings,” he said.

This is the second such incident this year. On January 23, the police had arrested a man for the same offence. The accused, Jatinder Chadha (36), was also booked under Section 295-A. An SGPC employee, Talwinder Singh, had spotted Chadha reciting Sukhmani Sahib ‘path’ loudly, and before he could request him to maintain silence, the latter tore the ‘gutka’. Later, it was found that he was not in his sound state of mind as he was depressed due to the psoriasis disease.