A video is doing rounds on the internet in which a woman can be seen sitting with folded hands in the premises of Golden temple in Punjab, while she is being thrashed for allegedly smoking beedi on the premises of Gurudwara.
Viral video shows a woman being thrashed
A video is doing rounds on the internet where a woman can be seen sitting on the floor with her daughter being slapped several times. Media reports claim, that she was being thrashed for smoking beedi in the premises of Golden Temple, in Punjab.
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The viral video shows a woman sitting on the premises with her daughter, while a man asks if she has more beedis hidden in her clothes. The woman responds with folded hands that she just had one beedi. Then the man claimed to be sewadar asks, why was she smoking on the premises of the Golden temple, where the woman’s daughter responds that her mother is old fashioned and hence smokes beedi and accepts that her mother had made a mistake.
The man went on to ask why they had come to the Gurudwara, the girls says that because they had faith in Wahe Guru. After this, a man slaps the woman on her cheek. The woman bursts into tears even as a sewadar tells her, “you don’t smoke beedi in your own temples, but do it here is our Gurudwara.”
And the blows and slaps continue from all sides, while the woman and her daughter plead for an apology. After which the two women were asked to get up, saying they should be sent to “room number 50”.
How the media portals reported the incident
According to The Times of India, the two women were accompanied by a young boy. The TOI reports says that the sewadars were members of the Shiromani Gurudwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) task force. The report states the time of the incident as the intervening night of March 14 and 15, officials at the Golden Temple kept it under wraps and even police are tight-lipped about it.
Whereas the Hindustan Times reported that the woman was from Bihar and that the woman was let off as the sewadars who brought the woman to the police could not provide any proof of possession or smoking any cigarette.
There was no condemnation of the violence on the woman rather the act has been termed as an act of sacrilege by SGPC general secretary Jathedar Karnail Singh Pancholi.
‘Acts of sacrilege’ in the Gurudwaras and smoking
In Sikhism, smoking tobacco is considered taboo as their tenth guru, Guru Gobind Singh, prohibited them from doing it. Also, smoking inside Gurudwaras attract charges of outraging religious sentiments under IPC’s section 295 A besides other penal provisions.
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It’s important to note, that in 2016, the 91-year-old Sikh Gurdwaras Act of 1925 was amended to prohibit all those Sikhs from voting in the elections to Sikh religious bodies who smoke tobacco or consume alcohol. Those who trim or shave beards and hair were added to the prohibition list too.
Also, there have been several incidents of be-adabi i.e., acts of sacrilege at Gurudwaras in the recent past and almost all of them have triggered violent reactions from devotees. Reports suggest that at least seven people have been killed over accusations of ‘sacrilege’ of Sikh holy texts and symbols since 2016.
These include the December 2021 lynching of a man at the Golden Temple after he jumped off the grills separating devotees from the Granthis and picked up a diamond-encrusted sword from the spot.
The “shera di comm” is guilty of thrashing a woman for allegedly smoking beedi, and they should hang their heads in shame for the same.
