- 10 police personnel injured, police vehicles damaged
- Faridkot police registered FIR against unidentified accused on Monday under sections 295 (hurting religious sentiments) and 120-B (conspiracy)
Moga/ Nagpur: People love and respect their religions as well as religious scriptures and cannot tolerate its desecration in any form. The same thing happened in the case of Guru Granth Sahib, a religious scripture of Sikh community, whose torn pages were thrown in Moga on Tuesday, making Sikh protesters to clash with the police which intervened and tried to disperse the angry mob, said the media reports.
According to reports reaching Nagpur Today, villagers in Khurd Jawahar in Faridkot blocked traffic in Kotakpura on Monday evening after finding four torn pages of Guru Granth Sahib in the village.
On Tuesday, nearly 200 Sikhs gathered on the Moga-Barnala National Highway demanding the arrest of those behind the desecration of religious scripture. The clash took place when the police tried to disperse the protesters. The protesters hurled bricks and stones, injuring 10 policemen. The police said four police vehicles were damaged.
SP H S Pannu and assistant sub-inspectors Balwinder Singh, Sukhminder Singh and Major Singh, apart from some women police constables, were among the injured. They were all taken to Civil Hospital.
SP Pannu was administered stitches while ASI Sukhminder Singh, who suffered fractures in the ribs, was referred to Dayanand Medical College and Hospital in Ludhiana.
Meanwhile, in Faridkot, Dera Babas including Baba Ranjit Dhandariyawala, Panth Preet Singh, Avtar Singh Sadhanwala and Jaskiran Singh from SAD (Amritsar) were taken into preventive custody by the police on Tuesday.
However, later they again started the protest at Kotakapura main chowk and Bathinda-Faridkot Highway was blocked till late in evening.
The protesting leaders said that the dharna would not be lifted until the arrest of those behind the incident. SP (Investigation) H S Pannu said the police would take “appropriate action” against the persons who vandalised the police vehicles and pelted stones at cops.
SIT formed
ADGP (law and order) Rohit Chaudhary, visited Faridkot Tuesday to take stock of the situation. A Special Investigation Team (SIT) had been formed to investigate the matter, said Faridkot SSP Sukhminder Singh Mann. Other members of SIT include DIG Bathinda range Amarjit Chahal, Moga SSP Charanjit Singh and Ferozepur SSP Hardyal Singh Mann. Faridkot police had registered FIR against unidentified accused on Monday under sections 295 (hurting religious sentiments) and 120-B (conspiracy). Deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal said, “The incident is an effort by anti-social elements to disturb communal harmony of Punjab.”
