After lynching Lakhbir Singh in cold blood and tying his dead body with chopped parts upside down to a police barricade, the killers, who are members of the Nihang Sikh community, are now threatening the police that they shall use force. Reportedly, after the spine-tingling incident at the Singhu Border, the Haryana police had arrested four Nihangs in connection with the murder. However, the Sikh groups have now threatened that they will make sure that the four of their companions are released by ‘force’ from police custody.
Nihang leader Baba Ram Singh said, “We have now given the complaint of sacrilege with the police and asked them to register a case against Lakhbir Singh. If now the police try to arrest any other person in this case we will make sure the four in the police custody are taken out by us. Right now we are cooperating with the police, but it doesn’t mean that we will tolerate any kind of excesses from them.”
We will do such lynchings again: Nihang leader
The Nihang leader further stated that lynching like Lakhbir Singh will happen once again if anyone tries to disrespect Guru Granth Sahib, “It has been six years since the sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib had taken place in Punjab in 2015. However, till date, none of the accused has been arrested and no legal action taken against anyone. If anyone now tries to do it again then we will punish him or her as Lakhbir Singh was punished.”
Read More: It wasn’t just any Sikh who killed a Dalit Sikh. It was a Nihang. And that makes it a caste war
Not only that, but the Nihang groups have also demanded that a case of sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib be filed against the deceased Lakhbir Singh. The anarchy of the Nihang groups can be gauged by the fact that days after the lynching of a Dalit man, a poultry farm worker, a Dalit Sikh, was allegedly beaten up at the border area for not yielding to the demands of a Nihang Sikh.
According to a Dainik Bhaskar report, a Nihang Sikh named Naveen Sandhu, who is involved in the ‘fake farmers’ protest, had assaulted the labourer who supplied chicken near the Singhu border. In a fit of rage, Naveen Sandhu purportedly broke the poultry worker’s leg when the latter refused to give him chicken.
सिंघु बॉर्डर: निहंगों पर मारपीट का आरोप, निहंग ने मजदूर से मुर्गा मांगा, नहीं देने पर तोड़ दी टांग pic.twitter.com/1w6uqxq2Xa
— Newsroompost (@NewsroomPostCom) October 21, 2021
Who are Nihangs?
Nihangs are an order of priestly Sikh warriors. They are characterized by blue robes, antiquated arms such as swords and spears. They also wear decorated turbans and trace their origin to the founding of the Khalsa by the last Sikh Guru, Guru Gobind Singh in the year 1699.
The order of Nihangs was formed at a time when the Sikhs and Hindus were facing barbarity at the hands of Aurangzeb, a ruthless Mughal emperor. At that time, it was quite natural for Nihangs to be heavily armed, as they constituted a quasi-monastic army supposed to take on invading forces.
Read More: Who are Nihangs: Warriors or Rebels without a cause?
Even after Aurangzeb’s death, the Nihangs were instrumental in beating back attacks by Afghan invader Ahmed Shah Abdali in the 18th century. They also played a pivotal role in Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s powerful army.
However, in a modern world, and especially in India where Sikhs face no existential threat, allowing Nihangs to carry arms and brandish them freely sets a dangerous precedent. In this particular case, Haryana Police should take action against Nihang leaders for issuing ‘life-or-death’ threats openly and chastening the police machinery.
