AMRITSAR SAHIB, Punjab—Keeping in view the rising incidents of Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji’s sacrilege and violation of Sikh code at places where the holy saroops of Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji have been installed, SGPC appointed Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Harpreet Singh has directed the SGPC to constitute a team that can work to create local bodies of Sikhs who can resolve these types of incidents on spot.
“Establishing the honor of Guru Sahib is a primary duty of every Sikh so the SGPC should immediately constitute a team of Sikhs to resolve issues pertaining to the sacrilege of Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji,” said Giani Harpreet Singh in a press note shared via his personal assistant Ranjit Singh.
It is important to mention that there are a number of Satkar Committees which operate throughout Punjab and in other parts of India. These committees, self-appointed, work to stop the sacrilege cases from happening, where they remove saroops from places where proper satkar to Guru Granth Sahib cannot be promised. The SGPC has not always worked well together with these Committees, often criticizing them for their sometimes violent measures as they take matters into their own hands.
Meanwhile, the SGPC’s role is most often related to lodging a police complaint when such incidents happen or take legal action. It does not have a way to stop beadbi or sacrilege incidents from happening on spot.
It should be noted that in addition to beadbi of saroops carried out by people with malicious intent, other reasons behind beadbi include improper electrical fixtures at Gurdwaras, most of which are run by non-SGPC organizational committees. Such incidents over more often in the winter due to short circuits.
In 2016, a short circuit at one of SGPC’s printing facilities in Gurdwara Ramsar Sahib led to 6 saroops catching fire. SGPC since then has taken measures to stop such incidents from happening. However, these types of events are still occurring from time to time.
