Horrific footage of a man being lynched by a mob for allegedly trying to desecrate a flag in Punjab's Nijampur village in the Kapurthala district has emerged online, sparking an uproar on social media.
The incident took place at around 4 am on Sunday when the gurudwara caretaker Amarjit Singh caught the man "disrespecting" Nishan Sahib (the Sikh flag).
Singh live-streamed the incident on Facebook; the accused could be seen tied up on the ground.
Singh said, "He [the accused] said he was 'sent' from Delhi and a sister of his has been 'killed for sacrilege' at another place."
The gurudwara authorities handed over the accused to a group of Sikhs who started beating him.
Police officers then turned up and tried to take the accused into custody but the angry mob refused to let him go and insisted the officers questioned him on the spot but things soon got out of hand.
The Gurudwara authorities made an announcement on the loudspeaker saying, "Police and any other agency should not interfere. Punjab Police and state government are equally responsible for the sacrilege cases."
WARNING! The following videos are graphic and may offend sensibilities
In another video of the incident, the accused can be seen tied up on the ground and crying in pain as he is brutally thrashed.
Kapurthala’s Senior Superintendent of Police Harkamalpreet Singh Khakh told Indian media that no sacrilege had been committed – instead, it was a case of theft.
“The manager of the gurdwara, Amarjeet Singh saw a man inside the Gurdwara in the wee hours of Sunday and got suspicious as he tried to flee the spot. The man was then caught by two ‘sewadars’ (co-workers) and was then thrashed. Later, several people gathered there and as emotions ran high, the man was killed. The deceased man was wearing a jacket of gurudwara students, which indicates theft possibility,” Khakh said.
Calling it cold-blooded murder, angry netizens have taken to social media condemning the lynching of the man and slamming people for taking laws in their hands.
On Saturday, a man was beaten to death by devotees at Sikh's holy shrine Golden Temple in Punjab state's Amritsar city for "sacrilege."
The video showed the man jumping over the railing of the sanctum sanctorum and trying to touch the ceremonial sword kept in front of a holy book.
While it's unclear what happened afterwards, it is believed that the man was taken outside and beaten to death by Sikh devotees and volunteers.
A special investigation team (SIT) has been formed to probe the incident.