Akal Takht, the highest temporal body of Sikhs, has sentenced former Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal to cleaning duty in the kitchen and bathrooms of several Gurdwaras including Amritsar’s Golden Temple,  for favouring Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim in the 2015 sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib. His father, the late Parkash Singh Badal, the former Chief Minister of Punjab, has been stripped of the Fakhr-e-Qaum (pride of the Sikh community) honour, bestowed on him in 2011 for services to the community.

Sukhbir Badal, who is wheelchair-bound, and the core committee members and the leaders of the Akali Dal, who were cabinet members in 2015, will clean the bathrooms at Amritsar’s Golden Temple on December 3 from 12 noon to 1 pm. After this, they will take a bath and serve langar.

The sentence came after Mr Badal had tendered an unconditional apology to the Akal Takht admitting his mistakes. 

Earlier today, the five high priests of the Sikhs — led by Akal Takht jathedar Giani Raghbir Singh — announced the quantum of ‘tankhah (religious punishment for misconduct)’.

The jathedar asked the SAD working committee to accept Mr Badal’s resignation as party chief and for a panel to reorganise the party within six months.

Sukhbir Badal was declared a “tankhaiya” in August by Akal Takht after he was held guilty of religious misconduct “for mistakes committed by the party when it was in power in Punjab from 2007 to 2017”. These included the pardon to Gurmeet Ram Rahim for the sacrilege cases that had triggered clashes between Dera followers and Sikhs in parts of Punjab.

In 2007, Gurmeet Ram Rahim had also dressed like the Sikh Gurus and performed a ceremony for which he was excommunicated by the Akal Takht. Sukhbir Singh Badal had allegedly used his influence to get the Dera chief pardoned.

Mixed-race children were forcibly removed from their families under a state policy in the 1940s. 

​Mixed-race children were forcibly removed from their families under a state policy in the 1940s.  

The Sikh clergy at the Akal Takht issued a religious punishment to Sukhbir Singh Badal for mistakes during his party’s rule from 2007 to 2017. Punishments include serving as a ‘sewadar’ at the Golden Temple and other sacred sites, cleaning utensils and shoes, and attending religious hymns. Other related leaders also received various services as punishment.