Tribune News Service
Amritsar (February 23rd)
A day after the role of the printing house in the city, which publishes ‘gutkas’, ‘pothis’ and other Sikh religious literature, came under the scanner for alleged offensiveness detected while printing holy scriptures, Satkar Committee members staged protest.
Panel members demanded the arrest and deportation of the printer’s owner while protesting outside the printing house.
Sources said that tension was building in the area after an accidental shot was fired into the air from a licensed weapon belonging to a protester.
The SGPC filed a complaint with police. This led to Chatar Singh, Jeewan Sing Firm being placed under Sections 292-A and 295.-A of the IPC. According to the complaint, workers of the firm were accused of smoking cigarettes, using tobacco and having drinks. Pages from religious books were also alleged to have been dropped on the floor.
ASI Sukhwinder, the investigating officer, stated that a DVR, some religious books, and a DVR were found. However, no tobacco or intoxicants were taken from the premises.
Nevertheless, the SGPC teams and the satkar committee surprised visitors to the press premises, accompanied yesterday by the police, discovered irregularities in the culture of work on the premises. Accordingly, printing was stopped at their request and the press was locked.
Partap Singh (SGPC secretary) filed a police complaint claiming that gross irregularities were being perpetrated by journalists who appeared to have been migrants from other countries.
“Migrant workers print Sikh holy scriptures. It is a terrible thing to find out that the publishing house for Sikh holy books is dirty. Wrappers of ‘beedi’ are scattered at the place. I have been told that empty liquor bottles have also been found at the spot,” he said.
Satkar committee member Balbir Singh Muchchal said the same firm was banned by the Akal Takht and in 1998 a ‘hukamnama’ was issued against its owners for violating the Sikh ‘rehat maryada’. He said the firm was publishing ‘saroops’ illegally.