Amritsar, Nov 17 (IANS) A senior Sikh religious leader from Haryana was Tuesday held guilty by top Sikh clergy at their meeting at the Akal Takht - the highest temporal seat of the Sikh religion located inside the Golden Temple complex here - and directed to do penance.
Jagdish Singh Jhinda, president of the ad hoc Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) who is also a senior Sikh leader from Haryana, and four other Sikh leaders from Haryana were Tuesday declared ‘Tankhaiya’ (guilty of religious misconduct) and asked to undergo penance.

Jhinda and others were held guilty for forcible occupation of the ‘Chhatti Patshahi’ (Sixth master) gurdwara at Kurukshetra town in Haryana September this year.

The decision was taken at a meeting of top Sikh clergymen, including Akal Takht chief Gurbachan Singh and heads of four other ‘takhts’ (religious seats).

Jhinda and others have been asked to clean shoes of devotees, wash utensils at the ‘langar’ (community kitchen) and listen to ‘kirtan’ (religious hymns) for one hour each (of these activities) for five days each at different religious places.

The places where these leaders have been asked to take this penance include the Akal Takht (Amritsar), Keshgarh Sahib (Anandpur Sahib), Damdama Sahib (Talwandi Sabo) and the Kurukshetra gurdwara. The total punishment will continue for 21 days.

The decision of the top clergymen was announced by the Akal Takht chief publicly inside the Golden Temple complex. Jhinda and others, who were present, accepted the punishment in front of hundreds of devotees.

Jhinda later said that though he had accepted the ‘punishment’ given by the Sikh clergy, it was wrong. He said that he will carry out all the activities.

He said that he would continue to fight for a separate SGPC for Haryana.

The demand for a separate SGPC for Haryana has created a controversy over the last few months. The Amritsar-based SGPC, mini-parliament of Sikh religion, manages gurdwaras in Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh, including the holiest of Sikh shrines - ‘Harmandar Sahib’ (popularly called Golden Temple) - in Amritsar.

A section of Haryana Sikhs is seeking a separate SGPC to manage gurdwaras in that state.