New Delhi: The row over police entry inside a Delhi gurdwara has escalated with the AAP reaching out to the Akal Takht—the highest temporal body of the Sikhs—after an FIR was lodged against its leaders including Arvind Kejriwal and other functionaries.
The Delhi Police had registered the FIR following a complaint by the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) over an alleged protest and disruption at Gurdwara Bangla Sahib.
That entire sequence of events started after protesters are said to have sought shelter at the gurdwara located on Hanuman Road Area, Connaught Place, after the police crackdown on Saturday.
Aftab Singh Virk, a coordinator with the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), had told ThePrint that the police stormed inside the gurdwara suddenly. “They had sticks in their hands, and no cloth on their heads. They even wore shoes,” he alleged.
The police, according to him, were trying to ensure that no protester was inside the gurdwara. “It was chaotic. They were trying to scare people. They even asked me, but assumed I’m a devotee,” Virk told ThePrint.
Regarding the video circulated on social media, alleging entry by police staff in Gurdwara Bangla Sahib, wherein some police staff is shown wearing shoes
In the circulated video some police staff is shown walking in the common passage, used by all devotees to reach the point… pic.twitter.com/PdVkKvHcwI
— DCP New Delhi (@DCPNewDelhi) October 10, 2026
The Delhi Police, meanwhile, has maintained that the video was circulated “deliberately with malicious intent, to outrage the feelings of a respectable religious community and are prejudicial to the religious harmony.”
In a statement, Deputy Commissioner of Police (New Delhi) Sachin Sharma said that police staff took the common passage used by all devotees to reach the point where shoes are taken off to enter the gurdwara. “The process is the same for all devotees coming to Gurdwara. The video showing the same is attached,” he asserted.
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‘Created chaos & disturbance’
In the above-mentioned FIR, DSGMC president Harmeet Singh Kalka has named Kejriwal, AAP MLAs/workers and others for “deliberate disruption at Gurdwara Sri Bangla Sahib and subsequent circulation of misleading videos.”
The FIR was registered at Parliament Street police station under Sections 189(2), 189(3), 189(5), 190, 223(A), 299, and 329 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
“Workers/supporters associated with the Aam Aadmi Party entered the Gurdwara premises in a coordinated manner, started protesting inside the premises and created chaos and disturbance, thereby attempting to use the sanctity of Guru Ghar for political activity. The gurdwara management and sewadars intervened only to maintain peace, preserve the sanctity of the premises and prevent the situation from escalating,” Kalka said, in the FIR, as seen by ThePrint.
The DSGMC is a statutory body established under the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Act by the Indian government. Apart from managing historical and local gurdwaras across Delhi, it operates educational institutions, hospitals, old-age homes, and libraries.
The protesters also raised “political slogans inside the sacred premises, disturbing the religious atmosphere and violating the sanctity and maryada of Guru Ghar.” Such deliberate political activity inside a revered place of worship, the FIR says, has “deeply hurt the religious sentiments of the Sikh sangat.”
The Delhi Police was requested to identify people seen in videos, ascertain who mobilised, organised and directed them to enter the Gurdwara premises, and take appropriate legal action against them.
“What makes the matter even more serious is that thereafter, AAP MLAs and leaders circulated videos and social-media posts presenting a distorted version of the incident and blaming the Gurdwara management/Committee itself,” Kalka added in the FIR.
Kejriwal publicly supported and amplified this narrative, despite the conduct of his party workers and the circumstances leading to the disturbance, he alleged.
The sequence of events raises a serious apprehension that the disruption and subsequent circulation of selective and misleading videos may have been part of a coordinated attempt to create controversy inside a place of worship, provoke religious sentiments, malign the gurdwara management and derive political benefit from the resulting situation, according to the FIR.
“Gurdwara Sri Bangla Sahib is one of the most revered Sikh religious institutions in the country,” Kalka said. “No political party or individual can be permitted to turn its sacred premises into a venue for political protest, confrontation or propaganda. Such deliberate misuse of Guru Ghar is a serious matter and has deeply hurt the sentiments of the Sikh Sangat.”
AAP takes it to Akal Takht
It was then AAP Delhi vice-president Jarnail Singh stepped in and took on the DSGMC. ““Why was the Sangat treated this way at a sacred Sikh religious site? Will political pressure be allowed to override the sanctity of our gurdwaras?” he posted on X.
“The dignity of the Sangat, the sanctity of our religious institutions, and the rights of the Sikh community are non-negotiable.
The DSGMC, he demanded, must answer these questions and be held accountable. Singh also sought response from the DSGMC over entry of police inside the gurdwara premises.
On Tuesday, an AAP delegation reached Sri Akal Takht Sahib in Amritsar over the incident at Gurdwara Sri Bangla Sahib, seeking strict action at the earliest.
Regarding the entry of protesters and police into Gurdwara Sri Bangla Sahib in Delhi, Jaskaran Singh, representing Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Kuldip Singh Gargajj, said “that gurdwaras have an established maryada (religious code of conduct) that cannot be violated.”
Political activities and protests inside gurdwaras are not permissible unless they are part of struggles rooted in Gurmat (Guru’s wisdom) philosophy and Sikh principles, he said, adding that no one should enter a gurdwara carrying banners or placards related to a protest.
“If the police entered the gurdwara premises, it was the responsibility of the gurdwara management to prevent such entry.”
It is the DSGMC’s duty to uphold the prescribed maryada within the gurdwara, he said. “The Sri Akal Takht Sahib had received further complaints and letters regarding the matter, which would be examined.”
(Edited by Tony Rai)