A man was beaten to death in India on Saturday after he allegedly tried to commit a sacrilegious act in the Golden Temple, the holiest sanctuary in the Sikh religion, according to local media.
An unidentified man jumped over a railing in the temple’s inner sanctum during Saturday night prayers in the town of Amritsar, located in the northern state of Punjab, Indian media reported.
NDTV reports that the man tried to grab a sword that was placed in front of Guru Granth Sahib, the Sikh holy book, before being arrested by worshipers and then beaten to death.
Punjab Chief Minister Charanjut Singh Channi condemned the man’s “extremely regrettable and heinous act” in a series of tweets issued from his office on Saturday evening.
Mr. Channi also ordered an investigation to uncover “the underlying motive and the real conspirators behind this heinous act”.
The defense of Guru Granth Sahib and Sikh shrines against desecration is a very sensitive issue for the community.
Former Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards in 1984 after ordering her army to make a violent assault on the Golden Temple to flush out separatists.
His assassination sparked pogroms in the capital New Delhi, killing nearly 3,000 Sikhs.
In 2015, a controversial biographical film about the founder of Sikhism, Guru Nanak, was withdrawn after protests over his portrayal in human form, which is against the principles of the religion.
And a group from Nihang – a warrior order within the Sikh faith – tortured and killed a man on the outskirts of New Delhi last October after accusing him of desecrating the holy book.