Delhi Police have registered an FIR over allegations that protesters linked to the Aam Aadmi Party raised slogans and conducted political activity inside Gurdwara Bangla Sahib during a demonstration against the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls, deepening a dispute over the management of protest gatherings in a major public religious space.
The complaint was filed by the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC), whose president Harmeet Singh Kalka alleged that protesters used the gurdwara premises for political activity after initially being allowed to enter, receive langar and take shelter. The committee has sought the identification of all the protesters and action against them.
Kalka said the protesters entered carrying bags and later took out posters before beginning to protest. “They came inside with just a bag and we let them in… We gave them langar and let them stay. After getting in, they started taking out posters from their bags and protested,” he alleged.
The incident occurred on Saturday as hundreds of demonstrators from Delhi and other states gathered to oppose the Special Intensive Revision, or SIR, of electoral rolls and demand the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. More than 100 demonstrators gathered outside Bangla Sahib, around one kilometre from the Election Commission of India’s office on Ashoka Road, and were detained by police on Saturday afternoon.
The competing accounts have focused on both the alleged protest inside the gurdwara and the role of the police. A staff member of the gurdwara management told The Indian Express that police personnel had urged the management to send the protesters out, but that the request was refused. The staff member said people had been peacefully sitting, sleeping and eating inside the premises and that those entering the gurdwara were treated as visitors.
“Police are not allowed inside. Police can come only when there is a serious criminal incident, but these are students who have come to protest, which is their right. They cannot force them out… they are not criminals,” the staff member was quoted as saying.
Kalka, however, responded to allegations by the AAP that police personnel had entered the gurdwara and violated its sanctity. He said the gurdwara had previously provided shelter to people participating in protests, but that the use of its premises for political activity would not be accepted. “Even during the last protests, people have come and lived here. That is our duty. But if someone does politics on it, we won’t tolerate it,” he said.
The complaint was received at Parliament Street police station after Kalka visited the station at around 1 pm. The FIR places the dispute within a wider question faced by central Delhi authorities during large demonstrations: how police, protest organisers and custodians of religious or civic premises manage crowds when designated protest areas and nearby public spaces overlap.
The report does not specify the FIR sections, the number of people named, or the next police action. The immediate official process is expected to involve identifying the protesters and investigating the allegations made in the complaint.
