A tense atmosphere continues to prevail on Tuesday in the State a day after torn pages of a holy book found near a religious place in Faridkot.
Nine cops were injured, four of them seriously, in alleged stone-pelting by a mob which was staging a protest at Butter Kalan village in Moga district after torn pages of Sikh’s holy book, Guru Granth Sahib, were found near a gurdwara in Burj Jawahar Singh village of Faridkot district on Monday morning.
The injured cops included two Assistant Sub-Inspectors (ASIs) and a Station House Officer (SHO).
Condemning the incident of Guru Granth Sahib’s desecration, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has urged the people to exercise calm in “this hour of crisis”.
“Nobody would be allowed to disturb the hard earned peace and communal harmony in the state…I appeal the people to maintain peace, amity and communal harmony at all cost as preached by our great gurus, seers and prophets,” he said.
The Chief Minister cautioned the anti-social elements which were hell bent upon to tarnish the congenial atmosphere of peace, communal harmony and brotherhood in the state to desist from their nefarious designs to divide the society on sectarian lines.
“This sacrilegious act is an unpardonable offence and no one associated with this ghastly crime would be spared at any cost. We will ensure that strictest action is taken against the culprits involved in the shocking incident,” he said.
Already, Deputy Chief Minister and state Home Minister Sukhbir Badal has asked the State Police Chief to personally monitor the entire operation to ensure that guilty be brought to book. Directions were also issued to create a special police team to carry out investigation into the case and conduct raids to apprehend the accused.
Torn pages of a holy book were found near a religious place in Burj Jawahar Singh village of Faridkot district on Monday triggering protests from the locals. Officials said that the holy book was stolen from the religious place, located on Bathinda-Kotkapura road, a few days back.
“The torn pages appear to be of the stolen holy book,” claimed the police.
While the police denied that they used force to disperse the mob, the protesters claimed that they had been forcibly asked to move from the spot following which the scuffle broke out.
The police fired some shots in the air to disperse the mob, the officials said while claiming that none of the protesters were injured.
The mob blocked the traffic at Butter Kalan village on the Moga-Barnala road to protest the tearing of the holy book. The protesters, however, later lifted the blockade after being persuaded by senior district officials.
Deputy Commissioner Parminder Singh Gill and senior Superintendent of Police Charanjit Singh spoke to the panchayat and village elders and succeeded in making the villagers to end the protest. “The situation is now under control,” said Gill.