Nihang held for lynching of Dalit Sikh at Singhu farm protest site

A day after a 35 year old man was brutally lynched and strung up at the farmers’ protest site at Singhu border, the police on Saturday said they have arrested a Nihang Sikh, Sarvjit Singh, in the case. Singh was taken into custody after he surrendered to the police on Friday night for his alleged role in the lynching, said police. Singh had come to Singhu border when the contingent of Nihang Sikhs had arrived there in the first week of December last year. At the border, he was the leader of a unit that tended to the horses.

 

 

Jashandeep Singh Randhawa, superintendent of police, (SP), Sonepat, said, “One Nihang Sikh has been taken into custody. He will be produced in the court later in the day. We are probing his role in the murder. The claim of desecration of holy book at the Singhu border is yet to be verified. It is a matter of investigation.”

 

 

Distinguished by blue robles, antiquated swords and spears, and decorated turbans, Nihang is said to be an order of Sikh “warrior”. A Sikh historian, Dr Balwant Singh Dhillon, however, told Indian Express that the order seems to have its roots from the Sanskrit word ‘nihshank’, which loosely means courageous, unblemished, pure, and carefree. According to Dhillon, the origin of the order can be traced back to Guru Gobind Singh’s Khalsa in 1699 or his son Fateh Singh, who lived from 1699 to 1705. Dhillon says that once upon seeing Fateh’s majestic look -a blue chola and a blue turban- Guru remarked that it will be the dress of the Nihangs.

 

 

While there are two sects of the Khalsa Sikhs- one which wears blue, and other which doesn’t have a dress code- Dhillons says that Nihangs follow the Khalsa code strictly. They do not profess any allegiance to an earthly master. Instead of saffron they hoist a blue Nishan Sahib (flag) atop their shrines, he elaborates.

 

 

Nihangs are said to use the slogans ‘chhardi kala’ (forever in high spirits) and ‘tiar bar tiar’ (state of ever preparedness) for unforeseen events. Nihangs are usually armed with firearms, including traditional ones, wear iron bracelets around their wrists and leather shoes called jangi moze, with a sharp metal fitting at the toe that can be used as a weapon, and wear pagdis much bigger than their heads. 

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