Two Days On, No Murder Charge in Kapurthala Killing Over Alleged Sacrilege

The IGP Jalandhar had earlier said that murder charges will be added as per the probe findings.

Residents of Nijampur village in Kapurthala district allegedly saw the man disrespecting the Nishan Sahib (the Sikh flag) at the village Gurudwara around 4 am.

(Photo: The Quint)

It's been over two days since a man was reportedly beaten to death by locals in Kapurthala district of Punjab for allegedly disrespecting the Sikh flag, and no case of lynching has been registered yet.

The police are reportedly still determining the identity of the killed, and his images have been circulated in police stations across the country, The Indian Express reported.

SP Kapurthala Harkamalpreet Singh Khakh told the daily that the lynching case will be probed under the same FIR registered on the basis of Amarjit Singh's complaint on Sunday. For now, the FIR has been filed under Section 295 (a) (hurting religious sentiments) of the IPC.

Khakh added that the police is prioritising establishing the deceased's identity within 72 hours, for the purpose of undertaking a postmortem examination for conducting his last rites, The Indian Express reported.

Earlier, speaking on murder charges, the Inspector General of Police, Jalandhar was also quoted as saying by ANI:

"No visible sign of sacrilege at Gurdwara sahib. FIR registered u/s 295A. Information about attack on police and man killed being verified. If it appears to be murder then FIR to be registered accordingly."

He added, "As it was a sensitive issue, police used restraint. Those people who managed to do this were more in number than the police. People's emotional sentiments were high after the incident at Golden Temple," he added."

Police also earlier said that they will be probing the killing as well.

Background

Residents of Kapurthala's Nijampur village district had allegedly seen the man disrespecting the Nishan Sahib (the Sikh flag) at the village Gurudwara early in the morning on Sunday, 19 December, caught hold of him and locked him in a room.

As per SSP Kapurthala Harkamalpreet Singh Khakh, however, the man may have been attempting to commit a theft when he was caught.

After receiving information about the alleged sacrilege incident, a police team reached the spot and asked the people at the Gurudwara to hand over the man. Consequently, an altercation broke out between the police and members of the Sikh community as they protested against handing over the man.

A scuffle ensued as the police, locals and angered Sikh organisations barged in the room when the man was locked. He was killed amid the commotion.