23 days on, Akal Takht revokes pardon to dera chief

The Moga SSP Charanjit Sharma was also suspended with immediate effect.

Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal meanwhile announced free treatment to all those injured during the protests in village Bargari and other places across the state. In a statement issued here, the CM expressed deep pain and anguish over the desecration of holy text and subsequent chain of incidents.

He said that necessary instructions had already been passed to the concerned deputy commissioners (DC) for providing free treatment to all the injured persons.
The Akal Takht, meanwhile, held a special meeting on Friday, in which the Sikh clergy headed by Jathedar Giani Gurbachan Singh decided to annul its earlier decision to pardon the dera chief, issued on September 24, since it was not acceptable to the Sikh community by and large.

“Keeping in view the sentiments of the community, the Sikh clergy decided to annul the earlier edict as the Dera chief is not a real saint and his apology is not acceptable to the Akal Takht,” said Giani Gurbachan Singh in a statement.

The ‘gurmata’ withdrawing the pardon was signed by the Sikh high priests at a hastily called meeting —the Takht Hazur Sahib chief’s permission was taken over phone as he could not reach in time on Friday. The U-turn by the Akal Takht comes on the day that the SGPC appealed to Sikhs, through advertisements in vernacular newspapers, to support the Gurmata (decision) to pardon the Sirsa dera head.

“No comment,” said SGPC additional secretary Daljit Singh Bedi when asked about the withdrawal of the pardon. An identical response came from Dera spokesperson Aditya Insan.

Gurmeet Ram Rahim had been charged with blasphemy after allegedly wearing an attire similar to that of Guru Gobind Singh, the 10th Sikh Guru, during a religious congregation at the dera’s headquarters in Bathinda district on May 13, 2007.

The withdrawal of the pardon brings back into focus the 2007 edict, issued by the Akal Takht, to boycott the Dera Sacha Sauda sect and its followers. The Sikh clergy on Friday also referred to the dera head as an ‘Asad’ (fake sant) as opposed to September 24, when they addressed him by his name.

“The Guru Panth has not accepted the Gurmata passed on September 24 in which the Dera Sirsa head was pardoned. Closely observing the sentiments of the Khalsa Panth, we have called this urgent meeting on October 16 to cancel the Gurmata. The five high priests of Takhts are committed to maintaining the honour of Guru Granth Sahib and Guru Khalsa Panth,” reads the press note issued by the Akal Takht.

It is also the first time in history that the Sikh clergy have withdrawn a decision. Earlier, some Hukamnamas (edicts) issued by former Akal Takht Jathedar Puran Singh were cancelled by his successor Joginder Singh Vedanti. Puran Singh was accused of issuing edicts on the direction of the RSS.

In the same press note, the Sikh high priests slammed the police firing on protesters. “Instead of punishing those accused of desecration, the administration restored to a lathichage and opened fire on Sikhs protesting peacefully. It reminded us of the days of atrocities committed by Nadir Shah, 18th century invader. We strongly condemn these atrocities and want the government to release all the arrested Sikhs. The government should also dismiss police officers and file cases against those who committed atrocities on Sikhs,” reads the statement.

They also wanted SGPC to legally fight the cases filed against Sikhs and compensate the families of the two Sikhs killed in police firing. The Takht has termed them both as martyrs.

AAP Punjab convenor Sucha Singh Chhotepur said the decisions of Jathedars (Sikh high priests) were politically motivated. “It is surprising that the jathedars have taken back their decision. Either they were wrong earlier or they are wrong now. They have lowered the dignity of the Akal Takht. Under the given situation where all decisions are being taken politically, SGPC and Takht chiefs have become irrelevant,” Chhotepur said.

‘Sukhbir should quit’
Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee president Partap Singh Bajwa, while welcoming the decision to withdraw cases against the Sikh protesters, asked Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal to fix responsibility for unprovoked police firing in Behbal Kalan village resulting in the death of two persons on the spot. He said the action of the police against the peaceful police protesters from Kotkapura to Behbal Kalan was “not only inhuman but also barbaric for which Sukhbir, as the Home Minister, must own moral responsibility and quit”.

He said the flip flop of first registering cases against hundreds of innocent people and then withdrawing the same clearly show that he was not in command or he had developed strong differences with the DGP Sumedh Singh Saini.