Paramilitary forces have been deployed in Amritsar, Ludhiana and Jalandhar cities of Punjab amid protest over the sacrilege of the holy book of Sikhs – Guru Granth Sahib.
Meanwhile, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has called an emergency meeting of cabinet ministers on Tuesday to discuss the ongoing protest by several Sikh groups in Punjab.
Meanwhile, the Punjab Police has arrested three people in connection with the desecration of the holy book. Two granthis (Sikh priests) and one woman have been taken into custody. The woman has been identified as Balwinder Kaur of Ludhiana and one of the granthis is Jagdeep Singh from Nijjapura village of Amritsar district.
Jagdeep Singh, 30, was arrested for the alleged desecration of the holy book, a crime he admitted to have committed, Amritsar's Senior Superintendent of Police (Rural) Jasdeep Singh Saini said, according to IANS report.
Balwinder Kaur and another granthi has been taken into custody in connection with the Ghawaddi Village desecration case in Ludhiana district, The Asian Age reported. The woman is accused of tearing pages from the holy book at the gurdwara in Ghawaddi village.
The protesters took to violence after they found over 100 pages of Guru Granth Sahib scattered on the roads en route to a gurdwara at Bargari village on 12 October. The torn pages of the holy book was found spread across several villages in Faridkot.
Violent protests erupted in Kotkapura area of Faridkot district as police resorted to firing in the air to disperse the protesters, killing two of them in the process. The death of the two men triggered further violence in the area and the Sikhs are still out in the streets to protest against the sacrilege.
