Man perhaps came with the target of sacrilege only: Punjab deputy CM on Golden Temple incident

Pushing for the penalty of 10-year imprisonment for all those who are found guilty of sacrilege, Punjab deputy chief minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa on Sunday said the Golden Temple incident that took place on Saturday was unfortunate. "It seems that the person came with the target of sacrilege only as he was there for 9-10 hours. He had not been identified yet," the deputy CM said adding that the investigation is on.

"In 2018, the state government passed and sent a proposal to the Centre to make minimum 10 years of imprisonment under Section 295A to whoever causes injury, damage or sacrilege to Guru Granth Sahib, Bhagavad Gita, Quran and Bible. I will write again to the Centre," the deputy CM said.

The incident drew sharp reactions from political leaders condemning the attempt to sacrilege bid. "Strongly condemn the horrific incident of attempted sacrilege of Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji at Darbar Sahib. Govt must get to the bottom of what led this man to act in such a despicable manner!" former chief minister Amarinder Singh tweeted on Saturday.

A man hailing from Uttar Pradesh was beaten to death after an alleged attempt to commit sacrilege inside the sanctum sanctorum of the Golden Temple. According to reports, the man jumped the golden grills inside the sanctum sanctorum and picked a sword and reached near the place where a Sikh priest was reciting the holy Guru Granth Sahib. The man was caught by Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) task force members. When he was being taken to the SGPC office, an angry crowd thrashed him leading to his death. It is being probed how many people were with him and exactly at what time he entered the temple.

Another alleged incident of disrespect of Nissan Sahib (Sikh flag) was reported from Nizampur village in Punjab's Kapurthala district.