'Delhi Police entered Bangla Sahib with shoes, weapons': CJP urges 'Sikh brothers' to join fight against govt

Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) co-convenor Saurav Das on Sunday said the Delhi Police forcefully entered Bangla Sahib gurdwara with shoes on, weapons in hand and detained protesters during October 10 stir. He added that the cops also forced gurdwara management to remove protesters.

“Whoever behaves like this with our Sikh brothers or with a place of worship…The end is very near for this government. I request Sikh brothers to help us and fight against them,” Das said.

Hundreds took shelter inside Bangla Sahib gurdwara

Hundreds of protesters shut out of Jantar Mantar spent Saturday sheltering in Bangla Sahib, near the Election Commission of India (ECI) office, as police waited outside and detained those who left.

Gurdwara staff said police were not allowed inside, although some accounts described an initial entry by some policemen.

Kamaljeet Singh, a pilgrim from Khandwa in Madhya Pradesh who has been staying at the gurdwara with his wife for two to three days, said 1,000-2,000 student protesters had arrived since Friday night.

Police later urged the management to send the protesters out, Singh said, but “the management refused to do so”. Around 150-200 students were detained outside the gurdwara, he said.

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“Police are not allowed inside. Anyone who comes inside the gurdwara is a visitor to us. Police can come only when there is a serious criminal incident, but these are students who have come to protest, which is their right. The police cannot force them out; they are not criminals. They just want to avoid detention. They are peacefully sitting here, sleeping and eating,” a staff member of the gurdwara management said, asking not to be named.

Police and witnesses differ over entry into gurdwara

Police gave a different account. They said they had found that protesters had stayed the night at the gurdwara, reached the area around 9 am and detained 50-60 people who left.

Around 12.30 pm, forces almost entered the gurdwara after a few protesters who had left tried to get back in to escape the police. The men were dragged away and detained, according to two witnesses. Police kept barricades around the area through the day to detain protesters.

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“Any person who goes outside in a group is being detained. I have been here since last night, and there were many others with me. Some of them tried to go outside and were detained,” said Yash Sain, who came from Agra for the protest.

Delhi Police rejects allegations over gurdwara entry

In a post on X, Delhi Police said, “Regarding the video circulated on social media, alleging entry by police staff in Gurdwara Bangla Sahib... some police staff is shown walking in the common passage, used by all devotees to reach the point where shoes are taken off to enter the Gurdwara. The process is the same for all; the video showing the same is attached. The video has been circulated deliberately with malicious intent, to outrage the feelings of a respectable religious community and is prejudicial to the religious harmony. Legal action is being initiated.”