Missing 328 saroops of Sri Guru Granth Sahib haunt the SGPC, yet again

Five years on, the alleged ‘disappearance’ of 328 saroops (copies) of Sri Guru Granth Sahib has put the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) in a peculiar situation once again.

SGPC president Harjinder Singh Dhami, however, has countered it as ‘misappropriation’ of records leading to the alleged ‘discrepancies’.

Launching an attack on the AAP-led Punjab Government, he viewed it as an unwarranted ‘political interference’ in the SGPC’s administration and a challenge to the authority of the Akal Takht. “What was the need, when the action was already taken by the SGPC’s executive body in 2020 as per the inquiry report prepared by Telangana High Court lawyer Ishar Singh-led panel that was appointed by the Akal Takht,” he quipped.

A Chandigarh-based commentator on Sikh affairs, Gurpreet Singh, said the silence which the SGPC had maintained to clarify its stance over missing saroops had given an opportunity to the AAP-led state government to make full use of the issue to gain political mileage.

However, he added that sacking SGPC staffers would not have been enough. “Had the SGPC investigated the matter thoroughly to discover on whose behest the saroops were allotted and who had usurped the bheta in 2020, there was no need for police intervention. The SGPC could have put the facts and figures in the public domain to be transparent. But it was not to be. Now, an FIR has been registered, and the police investigation might bear some results,” he said.

A case was registered on December 7 under Sections 295 (injuring or defiling a place of worship or sacred object with intent to insult a religion), 295-A (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings), 409 (criminal breach of trust), 465 (forgery) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC. As many as 16 persons, the majority of them ex-employees of the SGPC, were booked by the police on the basis of a complaint registered by the sacked Golden Temple hazuri raagi Bhai Baldev Singh Wadala.

The case has been registered after Vidhan Sabha Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan visited the dharna site when the FIR was lodged. The accused were the same as indicted by the Akal Takht panel.

Wadala, chief of the Sikh Sadbhawna Dal, has been staging a ‘permanent’ dharna at the Heritage Street leading to the Golden Temple, seeking action against the negligence of the SGPC’s administration since the issue came to light five years back.

‘Controversy’ unfolds

The SGPC reserves the right to print the saroops. In Amritsar, these holy scriptures are published at the Golden Offset Printing Press located at Gurdwara Ramsar Sahib and stored at Guru Granth Sahib Bhawan under the responsibility of the publishing department.

In May 2020, a publication department staffer Kanwaljeet Singh, who was on the verge of his retirement, brought to light the mismatch in records over 267 saroops. Sources said that he had to clear the records to obtain the NoC required to claim retirement benefits.

Akal Takht’s probe panel

In reference to the revelations by Kamaljeet, the Punjab Human Rights Organisation (PHRO), an NGO led by former Punjab and Haryana High Court Judge Ajit Singh Bains, had lodged a complaint with the Akal Takht’s then officiating Jathedar Giani Harpreet Singh, and sought a probe.

A three-member committee was formed under advocate Isher Singh of the Telangana High Court. In the 1,000-page inquiry report, submitted with the Akal Takht on August 24, 2020, the committee had discovered that at least 328 saroops were missing from the publication department during 2013-14 and 2014-15.

Another revelation was that 80 more saroops were burnt in a fire incident reportedly caused by short circuiting on May 19, 2016 at the SGPC publishing house in Ramsar. The report had pointed out that it would be a herculean task to find out how many more saroops had been missing since 2015 as the records had been maintained ‘very poorly’.

The report had indicted 16 employees of the SGPC, including the then Chief Secretary of SGPC Dr Roop Singh and CA Satinder Singh Kohli.

On August 27, 2020, the SGPC executive committee led by president Gobind Singh Longowal, had declared that it would not only initiate action against the erring employees but also get an FIR lodged.

However, on September, 6, 2020, Longowal announced that an FIR would not be lodged as the SGPC executive committee had decided not to allow an outside agency to interfere in its affairs and that the SGPC was capable of taking punitive action against the erring employees.

While some of the 16 employees were dismissed from service, others were suspended. Dr Roop Singh had tendered his resignation.

procedure to get saroop

The Guru Granth Sahib can only be printed and distributed by the SGPC or a body authorised by the SGPC. The Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) has also been endorsed to print and issue the saroops. Nonetheless, to procure the saroop, there is a procedure to be followed. A written application has to be submitted with the SGPC. A panel of the SGPC then visits the place to inspect where the saroop has to be installed.

Once the committee gives its nod, the saroop is dispatched through five Singh sahiban and ceremoniously installed in their presence. PHRO’s principal investigator in the case Sarbjit Singh Verka said that to circumvent this time-consuming process, the accused obliged some ‘VIPs’ to help them secure the saroops directly and the bheta, if received, were not put on record.

“SGPC employees were held guilty of not following the procedure but there must be high-level SGPC officials or Akali Dal leaders who control the SGPC, on whose orders the employees had allotted the saroops. Where and on whose behalf the saroops were dispatched is still a mystery. The saroops damaged during the 2016 fire incident was also played down as the SAD was running the state government,” he said.