Man beaten to death after attempting ‘sacrilegious act’ in temple

A man has been beaten to death in the northern Indian city of Amritsar after he allegedly tried to commit a sacrilegious act in the historic Golden Temple. The Golden Temple is one of the most revered places in the Sikh religion and the incident happened during the daily evening prayer on Saturday 18 December.

The man apparently jumped over a railing inside the inner sanctum and attempted to grab a sword that was kept near the Sikh holy book, the Guru Granth Sahib. Local media had footage of people rushing to stop him and CCTV footage is being used in the police investigation.

The local officer told New Delhi Television that the man was killed after the incident. “The man, about 20 to 25 years of age, had a yellow cloth tied on his head and jumped the fence … the people inside held him and escorted him out to the corridor where there was a violent altercation and he died,” Parminder Singh Bandal, deputy commissioner of Amritsar police, told the channel.

The chief minister of Punjab state, where Amritsar is located, strongly condemned the incident, calling it the most “unfortunate and heinous act to attempt sacrilege,” his office tweeted late on Saturday. The desecration of the Guru Granth Sahib is a highly evocative issue among the community.

Less than 24 hours later, another man was beaten to death by Sikhs accusing him of sacrilege after he allegedly tried to remove the Sikh flag, Nishan Sahib, from a temple in Kapurthala, also in Punjab state reports the BBC.

Indian media report police initially took the man into custody after the sacrilegious act but locals then clashed with police and ended up killing the man.

Punjab state’s police chief tweeted that “Stern action will be taken against all those disturbing the law and order in Punjab” after the “unfortunate incidents” in Amritsar and Kapurthala.

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