Man held for desecration at Nandanpur gurdwara

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Jalandhar, February 25

A resident of Nandanpur village in Jalandhar was arrested under Section 295 (hurting religious sentiments) of the IPC here today. As per Nandanpur residents, the man allegedly smoked beedi on the premises of Singh Sabha Gurdwara, Nandanpur, and also urinated there. The accused was apprehended by the residents. Around 70 people had gathered at the site until the police reached the village at 8.30 am and arrested the accused.

Accused appears mentally upset

A case under Section 295 of the IPC has been lodged against the accused. While he seems to be mentally upset, we are thoroughly investigating the matter. — Satnam Singh, ASI, Maqsudan police station

The police said the accused entered the gurdwara at 5.30 am and desecrated the premises by indulging in the aforesaid acts. Maqsudan police station ASI Satnam Singh said: “The man, who has been identified as Amrit Lal, a resident of the same village, desecrated the gurdwara premises for which a case under Section 295 of the IPC has been lodged against him. He has been arrested. While he seems to be mentally upset, we are thoroughly investigating the matter.”

The villagers, however, said the man’s conduct was perplexing because he was a mechanic in the village. Kehr Singh, granthi, Singh Sabha Gurdwara, Nadanpur, said: “Our village is peaceful and it has only one gurdwara. This man is a mechanic at the village. We also talked to his family which is also shocked by the incident. All communities live peacefully in our village. In recent times, other men who carried out desecrations in the region’s gurdwaras were also found to be mentally upset. The question is why only gurdwaras are targeted like this.”

Despite the presence of cameras at the gurdwara, no CCTV footage of the incident could be secured. Kehr Singh said new cameras had recently been installed at the gurdwara but due to technical fault in the hard disk, the CCTV footage couldn’t be available.