On Wednesday (December 22), an incident of temple vandalism was reported at a Hindu temple in the Ajnala town in the Amritsar district of Punjab. Despite the vandalism of idols and temple premises, the cops have dubbed it as an act of theft.
As per reports, miscreants broke into the Sri Lakshmi Narayan Temple and took away gold, artificial jewellery, motorcycle, and cash of ₹1 lac. According to the temple priest Swami Satya Akash, his room was locked from outside by the accused. After waking up at 5 o’clock in the morning, he had to call a neighbour to unlock the door. It was then that Swami Akash found that the temple had been looted.
He informed that besides the theft of valuables, two idols were broken and the Hindu temple was ransacked. While speaking to The Times of India, he said, “They broke an iron chain and two locks. Once inside, they broke the glass door of the shrine after locking the door of the staircase leading to the first floor, where we were sleeping and the front door of a house situated right opposite the temple, so that no one could come out.
Swami Akash, who had been the priest of the Sri Lakshmi Narayan Temple for 15 years, said that it was a case of desecration. In this regard, he had filed a complaint with the police. A First Information Report (FIR) was filed by the Ajnala police against the unidentified miscreants under Indian Penal Code (IPC) Sections 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention), 295 (defiling place of worship), 342 (wrongful confinement), 380 (theft), 457 (house-trespass).
Several Hindu and Sikh organisations had demanded the arrest of the accused. The Anjala police have set up a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the case. While speaking about the matter, DSP Jasvir Singha said, “We are examining CCTV footage of the area. We have also been using our technical experts to trace the location of the accused. Our preliminary investigation has suggested that the accused had entered the temple with a motive of theft. We are also probing the sacrilege allegation and hope to nab the accused soon.”
As per a report in TOI, SSP Rakesh Kaushal of Amritsar Rural stated that it is a case of theft and not ‘sacrilege’.
Lynching incidents in Punjab
In recent days, two brutal murders have been reported in Punjab, both on the pretext of alleged ‘sacrilege’. On December 18, a frenzied Sikh mob lynched a man within the premises of the Golden Temple complex under the allegations of sacrilege.
Within 24 hours, another incident was reported from Kapurthala where a hungry and homeless man was brutally lynched to death over similar allegations. Police have stated that there was no evidence of ‘sacrilege’ and reports reveal that the victim was looking for Rotis and had taken some food from the kitchen. While the deceased man has been booked under various charges, the people who lynched him to death are yet to be booked.
