Bargari

Bargari is a village near Kotkapura in Faridkot district, Punjab. In October 2015 it gave its name to the beadbi crisis: torn pages of Sri Guru Granth Sahib found in its streets, and the police firing on protesters that followed.

Key moments

• 1 June 2015: a saroop was stolen from the gurdwara at Burj Jawahar Singh Wala, a Faridkot village. Sikh groups held many dharnas over the next five months.
• 24 September 2015: the Akal Takht Jathedar pardoned Dera Sacha Sauda head Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh in a 2007 blasphemy case. The Tribune says the pardon was revoked on 17 October.
• 12 October 2015: residents going to the Bargari gurdwara for morning prayers found more than 110 pages of Sri Guru Granth Sahib torn and strewn near it. Bargari shut down, and protesters blocked the roads at Kotkapura.
• 14 October 2015: police fired on protesters at Kotkapura and Behbal Kalan, and two Sikhs were killed at Behbal Kalan.
• 27 August 2018: the Justice Ranjit Singh Commission's report was tabled in the Vidhan Sabha. It held the firing unprovoked and without warning, and recommended cases against the police who fired or ordered it. Its supplementary report named Parkash Singh Badal for "apparent involvement".

Who did it: the investigations disagree. The CBI found no evidence of Dera involvement and filed a closure report. A Punjab Police SIT formed in April 2021 reported on 21 April 2022, and Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann made its 467 pages public on 2 July 2022. It blames the Dera Sacha Sauda and names Gurmeet Ram Rahim as the conspirator, giving as motive the failure to release the film MSG-2. On 28 February 2023 the Supreme Court moved three trials against him and others from Faridkot to Chandigarh, after a Dera follower and accused, Pardeep Singh Kataria, was shot dead in Faridkot in November 2022.

The firing: on 24 February 2023 an SIT chargesheet in the Kotkapura firing case named Sukhbir Singh Badal and former DGP Sumedh Singh Saini as masterminds of a conspiracy to use excessive force. On 2 December 2024 the Akal Takht's order on Sukhbir Badal recorded that he admitted failing to punish those behind the 2015 sacrilege and the firings. In June 2026 the former Jathedar, Giani Raghbir Singh, gave a statement to the SIT on Behbal Kalan, and Badal said he was the target. The sources we opened report no verdict.