Delhi Sikh committee files complaint over Bangla Sahib protest

Delhi's Sikh gurdwara management committee complained to police on October 11 about a protest at Bangla Sahib. It accused Arvind Kejriwal and Aam Aadmi Party representatives of using the shrine for politics and spreading misleading videos.

A delegation led by Harmeet Singh Kalka supplied footage and asked police to identify the protesters and their organisers. The committee alleges that political slogans on the premises breached religious rules and offended worshippers. These are the complainants' allegations, rather than findings by investigators. The reports do not establish that police have registered a criminal case.

The dispute follows an October 10 demonstration against India's Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. Protesters entered the Bangla Sahib complex after police stopped them on their way to the protest venue. AAP representatives say police entered the complex to detain people who had sought shelter there.

Kalka said officers used a passage within the complex and did not enter the main prayer hall, although he criticised their presence in uniform. New Delhi Deputy Commissioner of Police Sachin Sharma said officers walked through a common passage leading to the area where visitors remove their shoes. He described the circulation of the disputed video as malicious.

Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann condemned the police action and defended the protesters, citing the tradition of Sikh shrines offering shelter to people in need. The committee is seeking an investigation into both the protest and the subsequent circulation of videos.