New Delhi: Tension gripped the Indian state of Punjab after more than 200 torn pages of Sikh and Hindu religious texts were recovered from a canal in Jallandhar city.
The incident came to light when a passer-by spotted the pages — from the Sikh book ‘Guru Granth Sahib’ and Hindu ‘Bhagvad Gita’ — and raised the alarm.
As the news spread, youths entered the canal along a 4-km stretch and found several more pages.
Angered over the incident, people blocked the Jalandhar-Kapurthala highway on Monday morning, demanding arrest of those behind the act.
Despite requests from administrative and police officials, the protesters refused to lift the blockade.
Traffic was diverted and there was a heavy police presence.
A First Information Report (FIR) has been registered against unknown persons for hurting religious sentiments. Police are also looking for CCTV footage to identify the suspects.
After tracing serial numbers mentioned on the holy books recovered from the canal, police are trying to find to whom these were issued.
They are trying to ascertain if the holy books were stolen from any temple or gurdwara (Sikh temple) in the state.
According to police sources, “over 200 torn pages of Guru Granth Sahib and several pages of the Bhagavad Gita were found floating in the Bist-Doab canal near Kapurthala chowk. The torn pages were spotted by one Prince Pal Singh, who said he was returning from a gurdwara.”
Leader of prominent Sikh Talmel (Friendship) Committee Harpal Singh Chadha told Gulf News that “frequent incidents of desecration in the past year had exposed the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) coalition government in Punjab. They have completely failed to control the menace.”
Chadha said antisocial elements were trying to disturb peace in Punjab.
Hindu fundamentalist party Shiv Sena also joined the protests later in the day.
Meanwhile, Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal said such heinous acts deserved widespread condemnation. He promised exemplary punishment in this case.
In May this year, four copies of the Guru Granth sahib were burnt in a fire at a gurdwara in Magror district. The fire was reportedly caused due to electric short circuit from a running fan. However, it caused immense communal tension in the state.
