‘He was running with a Sikh holy book’: The ‘crime’ for which Sikh man was lynched & hacked
A Dalit Sikh identified as Lakhbir Singh was killed — his hand chopped off at the wrist, his ankle hacked at ankle — at Singhu border Friday for alleged sacrilege.
Sonepat: What exactly happened in the early hours of Friday near the main stage of the farmers protest at Singhu border wasn’t clear by evening.
What is known — through people present at the site and purported videos from the scene — is that a man had his hand chopped off at the wrist and his foot hacked at the ankle, besides being assaulted, allegedly by members of the Nihang sect. His body was subsequently hanged from a police barricade and the grisly visual soon went viral.
Speaking to ThePrint, several Nihang Sikhs present at the site claimed that Lakhbir Singh, identified as a Dalit Sikh and father-of-three, had committed sacrilege with a holy book, the
Sarbloh Granth, that he allegedly picked up and sought to run away with.
However, questions about the nature of desecration evoked multiple accounts from people at the Delhi-Haryana border, where farmers have been gathered for nearly a year in protest against the Modi government’s three new farm laws.
Even the Nihang Sikhs who claimed responsibility for the killing didn’t have one answer. Some said Lakhbir Singh tore the
Sarbloh Granth, or threw it in the dustbin, while others claimed he was about to burn the holy book. Most described Singh as an agent of the Haryana government.
As of Friday evening, police said one person — identified as Sarabjit Singh, a Nihang — had been detained in connection with the killing.
Earlier, the Sonepat Deputy Superintendent of Police said they were informed “around 5 am that a man has been killed near the Singhu border”. “A murder case has been lodged at the Kundli police station. Investigation is on,” the officer added.
Sources in police said Lakhbir Singh has no criminal record.
Lakhbir’s family described him as mentally challenged, adding that he and his wife got divorced a few months ago. He was adopted by his uncle Harnam Singh after he lost his parents as a six-month-old, and is survived by his daughters, said Sukhman Singh, a relative.
“The
Guru Granth Sahib is above everything else. What will anyone do if their parents are attacked? Will you watch and wait for police or take action? When someone attacks our holy book, it is our right to defend and protect,” said Jathedar Raja Raj Singh.
“This man attempted to sacrilege our God. If anyone else does it, we will do the same thing again. We are not scared of the law. He touched and desecrated our Guru.”
Singh alleged a “BJP-RSS-CM Khattar” conspiracy in the incident. “They conspired to blame the movement, which is why they sent him. We have evidence, he was paid Rs 30,000 to desecrate our holy book.”