2 former SGPC officials booked over publication of 'Sikh Itihas'

The Police Commissionerate Amritsar have registered a case against two former SGPC officials, Harbeant Singh and Waryam Singh, both from the Dharam Prachar Committee, for allegedly permitting a private publisher to release a Hindi book titled ‘Sikh Itihas’ containing objectionable language about Sikh Gurus. Both men have since retired.

The book, a Hindi translation of JD Cunningham’s English work The History of the Sikhs, was published about 26 years ago. Complainant Baldev Singh Sirsa stated that the book misrepresented facts about the Sikh Gurus and said the case was registered at the Kotwali police station in E Division on December 7 after an 18-year battle. He alleged that the SGPC had withdrawn the book only after he filed a case with the Sikh Gurdwara Judicial Commission in 2007.

Sirsa noted in his complaint that SGPC, through resolution number 558, ordered the publication of Sikh Itihas in Hindi on October 7, 1997. Approximately 300 copies were published by a local private publisher who was paid Rs 67,767 by the SGPC in 1999. He challenged the SGPC’s claim of a complete withdrawal, pointing out that RTI responses indicated only five copies remained and questioning the whereabouts of the other 295 copies.

SGPC secretary Partap Singh, in a statement released on November 21, said the move was a deliberate attempt to target the premier Sikh religious institution. He admitted that the SGPC had translated Cunningham’s work into Hindi in a limited run to mark the Khalsa’s 3rd centenary in 1999. He recalled that at the General House meeting on November 23, 2007, a special resolution was passed banning the book and ordering the recall of all printed copies. He argued that revisiting the issue was an attempt to defame the SGPC.