Seventeen former officials and public figures, including ex-Delhi lieutenant governor Najeeb Jung and former chief election commissioner S Y Quraishi, have expressed “serious concern” over the entry of police into Gurudwara Bangla Sahib during the October 10 protests, and sought an independent, time-bound inquiry, in a letter dated October 11.
The letter, addressed to the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi and the Delhi Police Commissioner, was issued by Citizens for Fraternity – Bharat (CFF-Bharat), with copies to the Prime Minister, the Union Home Minister and the chairperson of the National Commission for Minorities. Visitors remove their footwear before entering a Sikh place of worship, and entering with shoes on is considered disrespectful. Videos on social media alleged that Delhi police personnel entered the shrine premises wearing shoes during preventive security operations. The clips spread quickly and made the question of police presence at a religious site part of the debate around the protests. Not everyone reads the row the same way. One analysis argued that footage of personnel in the common passage was quickly turned into a political charge that police had entered a gurudwara. The FIR also adds a legal track to the demand for an inquiry. Two questions are now running together. One is factual, whether personnel crossed the footwear point, which police deny and say their own video shows. The other is about judgment, whether police presence in or near the shrine complex was needed at all. The letter speaks to the second.
“Places of worship must not become extensions of police operations during public demonstrations,” the letter, also signed by former Chief Justice of the Patna high court Iqbal Ahmed Ansari, said. That is why the footage of police personnel at the shrine drew sharp reactions, and why the letter says the sanctity and autonomy of such places deserve “the highest degree of respect”. Police said the footage showed personnel walking along a common passage that leads to the area where visitors remove their shoes. It called the claims misleading and said they were circulated with “malicious intent”.
