SGPC uses violent force during protests over 328 missing Saroops

The organisation tasked with managing Gurdwaras in Punjab, the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), has used violent force to disperse Sikhs protesters.

The  protestors were demanding answers after it was discovered that 328 Saroops, or editions, of the Sikh scripture and spiritual Guru, Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji, have gone missing. The Sikh activists began a protest outside Sri Harimandir Sahib, the most popular Gurdwara in the world, and vowed not to leave until the Saroops had been relocated.

The violence took place on Tuesday 15th September, on the second day of protests at Sri Harimandir Sahib. The protestors belonged to various Sikh bodies including Guru Granth Sahib Satkar Committee. The activists are demanding that criminal cases be filed against SGPC personnel following the publication of a report ordered by Akal Takht Sahib, and that the Sikh community be told where these missing Saroops are.

SGPC employees responded to the protests by raising iron barricades to block entry to Sri Harimandir Sahib. According to eyewitnesses, the SGPC employees then began hitting the protesters with sticks in order to disperse them, injuring several of them.

Media personnel who were documenting events were also allegedly attacked. A cameraman of a news channel was allegedly badly beaten and his camera broken by SGPC staff in an attempt to stop him from filming the scenes  of violence.

“Sikh Sangat need to know where the 328 Saroops are,” said Bhai Dhian Singh Mand, acting parallel Jathedar of the Akaal Takht. “The SGPC management has to give a clarification.”

“We haven’t come to fight with the SGPC but to humbly ask where the 328 Saroops are.”

Advocate Jaswinder Singh added: “A case should be registered against SGPC president Gobind Singh Longowal in the case of the 328 missing Saroops. There can be differences of opinion, but this is no way to quell divergent opinions”.

Video clips and photographs of the incident went viral on social media and the SGPC was criticised and condemned by many members of the global Sikh community. The SGPC is currently celebrating its 100th year of establishment, after being set up during the British Rule of India, in 1920.

“Sikhs around the world are worried that the Sikhs’ single largest representative body, which is mandated to keep the honour of Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji, has forgotten its duties,” commented SAD (Delhi) president Paramjit Singh Sarna.

“When the Sikh bodies began their morcha for their Guru, they were dealt with barbarically by the SGPC task force.