Amritpal Singh Sekhon, the student in question, had passed out from the university on July 31. On Sunday, he held a press meet for the second consecutive day involving non-university outfits like the Sikh Students Federation. But what was interesting was the effort by the propaganda secretary of the Youth Akali Dal to garner support for Sekhon’s misconduct in the name of religion.

The GADVASU officials, who have been looking for an amicable settlement of the matter, meanwhile, issued a statement on Sunday clarifying the stand of Dr B S Sandhu, warden of hostel no. 8 where Sekhon stayed.

Dr K S Sandhu, Director, Students’ Welfare of GADVASU, said in the statement: “...as reported by Dr B S Sandhu, no disrespect was shown to any religious book or other religious belongings by him...”

Dr Sandhu further said that a properly constituted committee took the action to vacate the room. He dismissed Sekhon’s allegations as false. He said the entire incident was unfortunate. He hoped the matter would be resolved soon. 

Harpreet Singh, the university spokesperson, added that Sandhu is a Sikh too and could not show disrespect to the religion.

Sekhon had earlier alleged that his religious book and turbans were stuffed in his shoe rack. “We Sikhs accord a special place to our religious books and turbans. By keeping them with shoes, the warden only insulted my religious beliefs,” he said.

Supporting Sekhon is Jasdeep Singh Kaunkey, the National Propaganda Secretary of the Youth Akali Dal (Badal). He even demanded the adoption of punitive measures against Dr B S Sandhu for hurting Sikh sentiments.

“If the meeting with the Vice-Chancellor scheduled for Monday fails to yield results, YAD would submit a memorandum to the SGPC president, Avtar Singh Makkar,” said Kaunkey.

When asked whether the book mentioned by Sekhon was the Guru Granth Sahib, Sekhon said, “They were not gutkas (small religious books kept by Sikh families for performing prayers at home) but books dealing with religious topics.”

The latest development in the case is not going down well with the students who had held a daylong strike demanding more rooms in the hostels a fortnight ago.

“The university officials had tried to fit 20 students of the dairy technology department with those of the veterinary sciences due to lack of rooms. We students had observed a strike. But now when the authorities have asked the former students to vacate rooms, we are protesting it,” said a senior student.