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A 19-year-old man, Bakshish Singh, was beaten to death after he allegedly tore pages from the Guru Granth Sahib, the holy book of the Sikhs, at a gurdwara in Punjab's Ferozepur on Saturday.
According to Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Sukhwinder Singh, Singh committed the alleged sacrilege at Gurdwara Baba Bir Singh in Bandala village, after which an angry crowd caught and thrashed him.
Singh's father, Lakhwinder Singh, claimed that his son was mentally challenged and had been on medication for two years, and called on the police to register a case against those who killed him.
Locals said that Singh had never visited the gurdwara before and reportedly tried to run away after committing the sacrilege, but was caught by locals.
As the news of the alleged incident spread, villagers gathered at the gurdwara and beat him. A video from the site showed a group of men surrounding Singh as he sat bleeding with his hands tied.
The police later took him to a private hospital, but he had died by then.
DSP Singh said the situation is now under control, but Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Raghbir Singh criticized the failure of law enforcement to stop sacrilege incidents and called on the Sikh community not to allow Singh's last rites at any gurdwara and to socially and religiously boycott his family.
The Jathedar of the Akal Takht, the highest temporal seat of Sikhs, said that people are forced to seek justice on their own when the rule of law 'fails miserably in performing its duty'.
Source: Punjab Man Beaten To Death Over Alleged Sacrilege At Gurdwara