Chandigarh: A middle-aged woman identified as Parvinder Kaur was shot dead by a devotee at the Gurdwara Dukhniwaran Sahib in Patiala for allegedly committing “sacrilege” by consuming alcohol inside the complex.
Addressing a press conference Monday, Patiala Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Varun Sharma said the incident took place around 9:30 pm Sunday night. Accused Nirmaljit Singh Saini was arrested from the spot and a licensed revolver recovered from him, he said, adding that Kaur — aged between 45 and 50 — arrived in Patiala from Zirakpur Sunday.
SSP Sharma also said that the woman was undergoing treatment at a de-addiction centre in Patiala for alcohol addiction.
Kaur was sitting near the sarovar inside the gurdwara and consuming alcohol when devotees objected and took her to the room of the gurdwara manager, said Sharma.
“Nirmaljit Singh, who was among the onlookers watching the commotion, got enraged at Parvinder’s behaviour, took out his licensed revolver and fired five bullets, of which three to four hit Parvinder,” said Sharma.
Another onlooker identified as Sagar Malhotra was also injured in the incident, police added.
Sharma said police are still looking into the woman’s antecedents since no next of kin have contacted the police yet to claim her body.
He also said that according to information gathered from the de-addiction centre where she was undergoing treatment, the woman was “suffering from depression”. He added that the crime took place in the heat of the moment and since the accused did not know the victim at all, the police have no reason to suspect personal enmity between the two.
Giani Parnam Singh, head granthi of Gurdwara Dukhniwaran Sahib, told reporters Monday that when she was confronted by devotees near the sarovar, Kaur smashed the liquor bottle in her possession and tried to use it as a weapon against a gurdwara employee. One of the gurdwara employees was also injured in the scuffle that ensued, he added.
He also said that when she was questioned in the manager’s room, the woman said she was working as a security guard in Panchkula and that somebody had planted the bottle of alcohol in her bag. He further claimed that when gurdwara employees checked her bag, they found some medicines and what seemed like small amounts of drugs in little packets.
‘Anti-Sikh conspiracy’: SGPC
Reacting to the incident, Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) president Harjinder Singh Dhami alleged in written a statement issued Monday that the Punjab government was playing the role of a silent spectator while “anti-Sikh forces were targeting gurdwaras as part of a deliberate conspiracy”. Dhami, while ruling out the possibility of the killing being a stray incident, termed the “mischievous act of consumption of alcohol by a woman inside Patiala’s Gurdwara Dukhniwaran Sahib a conspiracy”.
Dhami cited low-intensity blasts near the Sachkhand Sri Harmander Sahib in Amritsar last week and instances of sacrilege that have come to light in the state to blame the Punjab government for its failure to curb anti-Sikh incidents. “If exemplary action is taken against the accused, no one will dare to commit such acts. Such conspiratorial incidents will not happen if the government is serious and fulfils its responsibilities,” he said.
Dhami advised the state government to conduct a high-level probe into the incident at Gurdwara Dukhniwaran Sahib to identify the forces which he claimed were targeting the management and dignity of Gurdwara Sahibs.
The SGPC, said Dhami, sympathised with the devotee who was injured in the incident and will bear the cost of his treatment. He also appealed to the sangat (Sikhs) to consciously perform sewa (voluntary service) in Gurdwara Sahibs to “foil the plans of anti-Sikh forces”.
The incident comes close on the heels of an alleged case of sacrilege in Morinda. On 24 April, local Jasbir Singh Jassi allegedly desecrated the Guru Granth Sahib and assaulted granthis at the historic Kotwali Sahib Gurdwara. He was eventually overpowered by devotees and confined to a room in the gurdwara before being handed over to the police.
Following his arrest, hundreds of Sikhs gathered at the Morinda police station and demanded that he be handed over to them so that they could deliver “instant justice”.
A lawyer later identified as Sahib Singh also tried to shoot at Jassi when the latter was being produced before a court in Ropar on 28 April in connection with the incident. On 1 May, Jassi reportedly complained of chest pain and was rushed to a local hospital where he died.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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