Dear Shri Rao,
I wish to bring to your notice the gross violations of religious and Legal rights of the Sikhs by the Senior Superintendent Police, Tarn Taran, Ajit Singh the SSP of this place raided Gurdwara Sri Baba Thana Sahib Khai of Nashera Panny in September this year without any search warrant. He seized old religious and historic relics of 10th Guru Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji and Baba Banda Singh Bahadur. These artifacts were kept with the custodian of this Gurdwara. Ajit Singh without making a seizure memo as required by section 1000f the Crpc, has carried away the following historic and religious antiques of the Sikhs: Six Hukamnamas (edicts) issued by the 10th Sri Guru Gobind Singh in his own hand; Kanga (comb) and Kesh (hair) of 10th Sri Guru Gobind Singh; Dastar (turban) of 10th Sri Guru Gobind Singh; Hand written ‘Bic’ of Sri Guru Granth Sahib; Letter of Banda Singh Bahadur in his own hand, After this raid, Ajit Singh stopped the sewa of this historic Gurudwara and besides taking away the relics seized 300 bags of wheat, baskets, spades, several bags of cement and langar (kitchen) utensils. Besides this raid and seizure being absolutely illegal it violates article 3 (index to the 1949 Geneva Contention) which bars any state from committing any hostile act against historic monuments, works of art, or places of worship. India is a signatory of the Convention, Article 49 of the Indian Constitution embodies the same spirit as this convention, You will recollect that in 1984 during Operation Blue Star the Indian Army had destroyed the Sikh reference library and the Toshakhana, These acis of vandalism cause great distress to the Sikh mind and I would be grateful if you could have the relics taken illegally from Gurudwara restored to its rightful custodian and Legal action taken against the police officer for his transgressions. I would further request that the Government of India let us know the list of Sikh treasures destroyed and vandalized by the Indian Army during the Operation Blue Star in 1984, lam sending a copy of this letter to Sardar Gurcharan Singh Tohra, President Sriomani Gurudwara Parbandhak Committee for his perusal and any further action that he may consider necessary. Simranjit S. Mann
President, Sriomani Akali Dal
Article extracted from this publication >> October 23, 1992
