Judicial custody for SGPC member, 12 others

Tribune News Service

Moga, October 9

SGPC member Jagtar Singh and 12 other Sikh activists arrested on Wednesday as a preventive measure by the police at Rode, ancestral village of Jarnail Singh Bhindrawale, have been remanded in judicial custody for seven days.

A group of about 300 activists of radical Sikh organisations assembled at Rode to hold protests in rural areas against the Sikh clergy’s decision to pardon Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh on blasphemy issue.

During the protest, the Sikh activists had a minor clash with the police after which 13 protesters, including the SGPC member, were arrested.

They were produced in the SDM court at Baghapurana town on Thursday. The SDM remanded them in judicial custody for seven days.

Meanwhile, hundreds of Sikh activists gathered on the premises of the sub-divisional administrative complex at Baghapurana and staged a protest against the arrest of their colleagues. They raised slogans against Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and Deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal for arresting Sikh activists.

Before being escorted to the jail, Jagtar Singh told mediapersons that the agitation against the Sikh clergy’s verdict would continue across the state. “The arrests will not deter us from going to the masses to create awareness among the rural folk on this issue,” he said.