TURLOCK, California, USA—Sandeep Singh (better known as Janti) within the California Sikh community has been taken into custody in relation to the recent fight at the Turlock Gurdwara Sahib located on Fifth street. Sandeep Singh is very active in various community projects, most prominently, he is one of the organizers of the annual Sikh Freedom March that takes place in San Francisco.
Following the violent incident at the Turlock Gurdwara, Sandeep Singh was interviewed by Sikh24. He had told Sikh24 that, he stepped in to help stop the fighting. His purpose was not to escalate the attack. “One hundred people were attacking ten people and I just wanted to stop it,” Sandeep Singh had told Sikh24. During the incident, Sandeep Singh was pepper sprayed.
Sandeep Singh has been arrested in relation to using a deadly weapon. Following the incident, several media outlets had looped a shaky video of a person swinging the chimta to make it look as if a large battle took place. Many headlines stated that kirpans (articles of faith) were drawn and used as weapons, while paired with this video.
Sandeep Singh told Sikh24 that, “Everyone is criticizing us saying that this gurdwara is bad or we are all trouble makers, but we Sikhs talk about justice in India, but we don’t even give each other justice here. We don’t put the blame where it’s due on who started the fight.”
