FIR against fashion designer for yoga at Golden Temple

The city police have registered an FIR against fashion designer and lifestyle influencer Archana Makwana for allegedly hurting religious sentiments of Sikhs by performing yoga on the bank of sarovar at the Golden Temple, officials said on Sunday.

The police action came on a complaint filed by Golden Temple general manager Bhagwant Singh Dhangera on behalf of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) after Makwana posted pictures of her act on Instagram on June 21. Her pictures had gone viral on social media.

The FIR was registered under Section 295-A (Deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) in the E-division police station.

In his complaint, Dhangera stated that she deliberately made them (pictures) viral. The act hurt the Sikh sentiments, he mentioned. As per the FIR, the accused hails from Gujarat.

This incident also resulted in suspension of two SGPC employees for “negligence”. Also, the SGPC had fined another staffer ₹5,000 and transferred him to Gurdwara Garhi Sahib, Gurdas Nangal.

In the pictures which went viral and were later deleted, she is seen performing yoga with the sanctum sanctorum in the background. Members of the Sikh community termed it a violation of ‘maryada’.

Later, in a story posted on her Instagram handle, Makwana said, “I was unaware that practising yoga on the Gurdwara Sahib premises could be offensive to some as I was just paying respect and did not mean any harm to anyone. Please accept my sincere apologies.”

Another video was seen doing the rounds on social media wherein Makwana was seen apologising, claiming that her intention was not to hurt anyone’s sentiments. In a separate video, she is seen stating that she has been provided security by the Gujarat government after the row triggered. HT couldn’t independently verify the veracity of these videos.