M A I N   N E W S

Women ‘assaulted’ at Golden Temple
Not ‘allowed’ to do seva
Varinder Walia
Tribune News Service

Amritsar, February 14
Gender discrimination came to the fore when two England-based Sikh women were allegedly ‘assaulted and insulted’ by SGPC sevadars during ‘sukhasan’ (ceremony of carrying Guru Granth Sahib in a palanquin) at the Golden Temple late last night.

In a complaint lodged with the Akal Takht secretariat here today, Bibi Mejinderjit Kaur and Bibi Lakhbir Kaur who had come all the way from London to participate in the daily evening ceremony of taking ‘savari of the holy Guru Granth Sahib’ on the personal assurance of Giani Joginder Singh Vedanti during his visit to Britain, became victims of gender discrimination.

Both the Sikh women sought immediate intervention of the Jathedar of Akal Takht and SGPC chief for ensuring that women be allowed to perform any ‘seva’ at the Golden Temple including carrying of ‘palki’ (palanquin) during the ceremony of ‘sukhasan’. Instead of allowing them to participate in the ceremony, they were maltreated, they alleged.

The women asked the Sikh clergy to grant permission to women to perform any seva in the Golden Temple without any discrimination. “We travelled from London to do Guruji’s palki seva at Sri Harmandir Sahibji and would like to take the message back to the Sikh community that Sikh women are being allowed to do any seva at the Golden Temple as per the Guru’s tenets and that Darbar Sahib is now liberated from the mahants in the true spirit”, they said in a letter addressed to the SGPC and Akal Takht.

Talking to TNS, Bibi Mejinderjit Kaur said that she had never experienced such a rude behaviour. She alleged that when she along with Bibi Lakhbir Kaur tried to touch the ‘palki’, they were pushed back and the SGPC employees shouted that women were not allowed to perform this seva.

The complaint further reads, “The sevadars attending to the procession prevented us from queuing with the male members of the congregation. They said only male members of the congregation are allowed to do so”.

“We were pushed, assaulted and insulted by the sevadars. One of the sevadars said his livelihood was at stake if he allowed us to join the queue of male members taking the palki”, they added.

Meanwhile, Bibi Kiranjot Kaur, former general secretary, SGPC, has condemned the incident and urged the Sikh clergy to ensure that there should not be any gender discrimination in the Golden Temple. She said it (gender discrimination) was against the tenets of Sikhism.