A man was beaten to death in the northern Indian city of Amritsar for attempting to desecrate one of the holiest shrines in the Sikh religion, the Golden Temple.
The facts took place during the church service on Saturday, local media reported. The man allegedly broke into the shrine, stepped over a balustrade in an attempt to grab the ceremonial sword placed next to the holy book of Sikhism, Guru Granth Sahib.
However, he was arrested by the faithful before touching these sacred objects. The BBC says local police found the man dead inside the temple when he arrived at the scene, and an investigation was underway to find out what happened. According to local media, the man was beaten to death by worshipers. According to the Indian media New Delhi Television Ltd, it was a 25-year-old individual who had acted alone. Police are currently viewing the numerous CCTV footage, and an autopsy of the body will be performed in the coming days.
In a tweet, Charanjit Singh Channi the chief minister of Punjab, where the city of Amritsar is located, said he had ordered the police to “focus” on “the underlying motive and the real conspirators. behind this despicable act. “
Several desecration of Sikh sacred places took place in 2014 and 2015, and this issue became a major political issue during the Punjab elections in 2017 and 2019. The ruling Punjab party was notably accused of laxity by its opponents and by the Sikh community for not having sufficiently condemned the acts of desecration of their sacred temples.
The desecration of Sikh temples is a very sensitive issue for the community. In the 1980s, a group of armed Sikhs, who demanded separatism and the creation of a Sikh state in the Punjab, took refuge in the Golden Temple in Amritsar. After failed attempts at negotiations with the Indian government, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi ordered the temple to be emptied of its occupants, sparking clashes, leaving hundreds dead and injured. Indira Gandhi was herself subsequently murdered by her Sikh bodyguards, and violent anti-Sikh riots then hit India and in particular the Delhi region.
