A woman police officer was held by the collar and pushed around by some Nihang Sikhs as she tried to rescue another Nihang Sikh, who belonged to a rival group and was being assaulted by them, in Amritsar on Friday night.
Upon receiving information about the incident, Manjit Kaur, the Station House Officer (SHO) of Gate Hakima police station, arrived at the scene with a team and attempted to rescue the assaulted man. A scuffle broke out between the protesting Nihang Sikhs and the police officer, and the latter was manhandled by some of the protesters. She persisted, and the police took the injured Nihang Sikh into their vehicle and to the police station. The protest centred around a rivalry between two groups. The protesters accused the police of colluding with the opposing party.
Traffic on Jhabal Road was disrupted due to the protest, forcing vehicles to be diverted via alternative routes.
The commotion broke out during a blockade and sit-in protest by some Nihang Sikhs on Amritsar’s Jhabal Road, where another Nihang Sikh arrived on a motorcycle; the protesters stopped him and began assaulting him, alleging that he had been sent by an opposing group to “conduct reconnaissance”. They said the man who came on a bike was sent by Major Singh Bhindwad, the rival group’s leader, to spy on them. The protesters had also used abusive language as the vehicles passed by, according to the police personnel on duty.
The protesting Nihang Sikhs alleged that they had previously been attacked and fired upon, which led them to stage the sit-in on Jhabal Road.
