There has been a narrative that has been built by media that a man lynched by Sikhs in Golden Temple in “alleged” Sacrilege incident. Equating punishing the culprit committing sacrilege of Sahib Sri Guru Granth Sahib with Lynching is a very dangerous norm that is done by media.
Stature of Sri Guru Granth Sahib for Sikhs
First of all lets see what Sahib Sri Guru Granth Sahib means for a Sikhs. When I am referring to Sikhs then I am not talking only about amritdhari (baptised) Sikhs but I am referring to everyone who identify them selves as Sikhs.
Tenth Guru Sahib Sri Guru Gobind Singh ji Maharaj entrusted Sahib Sri Guru Granth Sahib as living Guru of Sikhs, and Sri Guru Granth Sahib is given the highest possible regard and respect in all Gurdwaras and all the devotees go down on their knees and pay obedience. Sikhs place Guru Granth Sahib at highest pedestal in their life. After reading this one would say that this is just merely what Sikhs believe. So lets see what Supreme Court of India has to say on this.
Judgement of Supreme Court of India that was passed in a case titled S.G.P.C. Amritsar versus Shri Som Nath and others holding, “Guru Granth Sahib a Juristic Person” is of great significance here. The question whether Guru Granth Sahib could be a “Juristic Person” or not or whether Guru Sahib could be placed on the same pedestal as an idol has been examined by the Hon’ble Judges with an insight of the Sikh religion held:
“Now returning to the question, whether Guru Granth Sahib could be a Juristic Person or not, or whether it could be placed on the same pedestal, we may first have a glance at the Sikh religion. To comprehend any religion fully may indeed be beyond the comprehension of any one and also beyond any judicial scrutiny for it has its own limitations. But its silver lining could easily be picked up. In the Sikh religion, Guru is revered as the highest reverential person. The first of such most revered Gurus was Guru Nanak Dev, followed by succeeding Gurus, the Tenth being the last living, viz., Guru Gobind Singh Ji. It is said that Adi Granth or Guru Granth Sahib was compiled by the Fifth Guru Arjun and it is this book that is worshiped in all the gurudwaras. While it is being read, people go down their knees to make reverential obeisance and place their offerings of cash and kind on it, as it is treated and equated to a living Guru.”
Hon’ble Mr. Justice further held:
“The question is: whether the Guru Granth Sahib could be treated as a juristic person or not? If it is, then it can hold and use the gifted properties given to it by its followers out of their love, in charity. This is by creation of an endowment like others for public good, for enhancing the religious fervour, including feeding the poor etc.. Sikhism grew because of the vibrating divinity of Guru Nanakji and the 10 succeeding gurus, and the wealth of all their teachings is contained in Guru Granth Sahib. The last of the living guru was Guru Gobind Singhji who recorded the sanctity of Guru Granth Sahib and gave it the recognition of a living Guru. Thereafter, it remained not only a sacred book but is reckoned as a living guru.“
The above excepts are from the judgement passed in that case and they clearly show that Supreme Court of India recognised Sahib Sri Guru Granth Sahib as living Guru, because court understood respect given to Sri Guru Granth Sahib Sikhs and the honour they associate with Guru Sahib.
Mob Lynching Vs Sikh form of Delivering Justice
First lets see what does lynching means. Lynching, a form of violence in which a mob, under the pretext of administering justice without trial, executes a presumed offender often after inflicting torture and corporal mutilation. Example of the lynching is that people killing a person on an assumption / rumour that he and his family are eating / storing beef (Indian man lynched over beef rumours)
Now since we have defined lynching now lets see what happened in this case of sacrilege act. In last 10 years there have been around 300 incidents of sacrilege of Sri Guru Granth Sahib that have been committed and in majority of cases even after full evidence was submitted to police authorities they have let the culprits walk free sitting one reason or another and mainly under political pressure. Sikhs till date have being patient and have protested peacefully against the authorities so that the justice could be delivered for these incidents but to no avail, instead peaceful demonstrators have been fired upon by the police and even perpetrators of those firing have also been protected and no justice have been delivered even after six years (No Justice after 6 years of Behbal Kalan) . I would also mention here the commendable behaviour shown by Sikhs that in wake of all these incidents when justice has been continuously denied, Sikhs have always protested peacefully i.e. no rioting against any particular community or damaging state property or anything in Punjab.
The above situation begs a question that what should Sikhs do when administration has continuously delayed/ denied the justice (Justice delayed is justice denied) and have protected the culprits ? In the answer to this question. Sikhs have returned to their traditions of delivering justice themselves, and as Sikh tradition dictates. Guru’s regard is held highest and whosoever tries to malign it should be dealt with swiftly, and a person should live an honourable life and if he/she is not doing that then what ever he does is all forbidden.
ਗੁਰ ਕੀ ਨਿੰਦਾ ਸੁਣੇ ਨਾਂ ਕਾਨ, ਭੇਟ ਕਰੋ ਤਿਸ ਸੰਗ ਕਿਰਪਾਨ
Gur ki Ninda Sunaye Naa Kaan, Bhent karo tis sang kirpan
ਜੇ ਜੀਵੈ ਪਤਿ ਲਥੀ ਜਾਇ ਸਭੁ ਹਰਾਮੁ ਜੇਤਾ ਕਿਛੁ ਖਾਇ।।
Je Jive pat Lathi jaye, Sab Haram jeta kich Khaye
The reason this can not be regarded as Lynching is for following reasons.
1.There is no presumption or rumour in this case and a full video evidence is available which had been seen by millions of people world wide as live program was going on in Sri Darbar Sahib (Golden Temple). On which it could be clearly seen the culprit jumping the barrier, picking up the sword and attempted to do the sacrilage of Sri Guru Granth sahib in central sanctorum of Sikhs.
2. State has repeatedly failed Sikhs in past on this issue when the perpetrators of this heinous crimes were not punished (even though full cctv video evidences were submitted in past) and were released on bail which had hurt Sikh sentiments.
In the end I would like to ask a question to all who are saying that Sikhs would have gathered more video evidence or would have tried to find how and where these guys were sent from etc. That as I have described above what the stature of Sahib Sri Guru Granth Sahib is for Sikhs and how much emotionally attached we are to our Guru. So a basic analogy would be that for example if a rouge person breaks into your house and tries to disrespect your Mother, Sister or Wife, then what would you do ? Would you sit back and gather evidence first and make a video of him disrespecting your ladies of the house, or act first ? Now to compound the situation lets say for argument sake that you are able to gather evidence and have successfully handed him over to police. But then police / administration lets that man free without punishing him. Then because that man was allowed to walk away after breaking into your house and disrespecting your women and eventually this becomes a norm that every other day you find your self in similar situation then what would you do ?
– Harpreet Singh
HarpreetSingh's Blog 