Three held for sacrilege of ‘birs’ in Amritsar dist

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, March 12

Tension prevailed at Ramdiwali Musalmana village in Majitha after three persons were arrested for allegedly desecrating “birs” of Guru Granth Sahib and some “gutkas” at a village gurdwara.

The accused, identified as Prem Singh, Shamsher Singh and Raju Masih, all residents of the same village, were sent to three-day police remand.

Jasdeep Singh, SSP, said Prem Singh was earlier arrested in a case of theft and bootlegging. Preliminary investigations revealed that they had entered the gurdwara for stealing cash from the “golak” and their motive behind burning the religious books was to divert the attention of the people. The culprits allegedly set two “birs” of Guru Granth Sahib and 10 “gutkas” on fire.

A shopkeeper, Jagjit Singh, who lives nearby, raised an alarm after seeing smoke billowing out of the gurdwara. The residents nabbed Prem Singh from the spot, while the other two were held following his interrogation.

A case under Section 436, 452, 457, 295 and 295-A of the IPC has been registered against them.

A team of the SGPC reached the spot for carrying out investigations. Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Gurbachan Singh, SGPC president Avtar Singh Makkar and Cabinet Minister Bikram Majithia condemned the incident.

Congress Legislature Party leader Charanjit Singh Channi has condemned the incident. He said the Congress had taken up the issue strongly in the Vidhan Sabha yesterday as nothing had been done so far to trace the culprits in earlier cases.