Gutka Sahib ‘sacrilege’ row: Several booked, five Mohali Police teams deployed to arrest accused

Tension gripped the Airport road late Tuesday night after a sewadar first noticed the pages scattered between the stretch of Gurdwara Singh Shaheedan and Gurdwara Mata Sundri near Sohana.

According to police, a sewadar first noticed the scattered pages around 11 pm, and soon, locals and youths gathered at the spot in large numbers. Protesting the incident, they blocked the Airport road and searched the surrounding area. The scattered pages were later collected by the sangat and were wrapped in siropas.

Accompanied by police personnel, DSP Harsimran Singh Bal reached the spot and initiated an inquiry. “CCTV footage from nearby locations is being scanned,” he said.

Members of the local sangat suspect that Gutka Sahibs kept at Gurdwara Singh Shaheedan might have been “taken away and desecrated”. They also suspect that the act could have been “pre-planned”, noting that “the torn pages had been scattered across a considerable stretch”.

BJP leader Sanjeev Vashisht also visited the spot late at night and demanded immediate arrests and strict action against those responsible. Vashisht warned that such incidents could disturb communal harmony.

Meanwhile, Bibi Paramjit Kaur, member of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), along with locals and office-bearers of the Mohali Gurdwara Coordination Committee, handed over a memorandum to SP Ramandeep Singh to be submitted to Mohali Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Harman Deep Singh Hans.

The memorandum demanded the immediate arrest of the accused and the strictest possible legal action to curb recurring incidents of sacrilege. The memorandum warned that failure to act promptly could force the Sikh community to launch strong protests, given the gravity of their religious sentiments.

The delegation comprised Sukhwinder Singh, the manager of Gurdwara Sri Amb Sahib, presidents of various gurdwara coordination committees in Mohali, and representatives of several Sikh organisations, who jointly endorsed the memorandum.

Under Section 5 of the amended Act, stricter penalties have been envisaged for cases of sacrilege, particularly those involving the Guru Granth Sahib. The amendment provides for a minimum punishment of 10 years of imprisonment, which may extend to life imprisonment, along with the possibility of a substantial fine. It also seeks to classify such offences as serious and non-bailable, while specifically covering acts of intentional desecration. The BNS Section 299(5) states: “Whoever with deliberate and malicious intention of outraging the religious feelings of any class of citizens of india by words either spoken or written or by signs or by visible representations or through electronic means or otherwise insults or attempts to insult the religion or the religious beliefs of that class shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to three years or with fine or with both.”