A man was lynched in India for allegedly trying to desecrate the Golden Temple, the holiest shrine in Sikhism.
Local media reported that an unidentified man jumped on a railing in the sanctum sanctorum of the temple during Saturday evening prayers in the northern city of Amritsar.
Broadcaster NDTV said The man tried to hold the sword placed in front of the Sikh holy book Guru Granth Sahib when he was stopped by worshipers and later thrashed to death.
Punjab state Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi condemned the man’s “most unfortunate and heinous act” in a series of tweets from his office late Saturday.
Channi ordered an investigation to find out “the underlying motive behind the dastardly act and the real conspirators”. The protection of the Guru Granth Sahib and Sikh shrines against profanity is a highly sensitive issue for the community.
Former Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated in 1984 by her Sikh bodyguards after she ordered a brutal military attack on the Golden Temple to drive out separatists.
His assassination led to a bloody massacre in the capital New Delhi in which around 3,000 Sikhs were killed.
In 2015, a controversial biopic of Sikhism’s founder Guru Nanak was pulled after protests prompted by his depiction in human form, which is against the tenets of the religion.
And a group of Nihangs – a warrior order within Sikhism – tortured and killed a man on the outskirts of New Delhi in October, accusing them of desecrating the holy book.