Sunday, January 25, 2026
ADVT 
International

Mixed-Faith Wedding Sparked Angry Protest At Sikh Temple, Court hears

IANS, 02 Feb, 2018 04:12 PM
    An official at a Sikh temple was assaulted by having his tie grabbed during a mass protest against a mixed-faith wedding ceremony, a court has heard.
     
     
    A trial at Birmingham Crown Court was told demonstrators shouted vile insults in Punjabi after forcing open the doors of the gurdwara in Leamington in September 2016.
     
     
    Gursharan Singh, 34, and Kulvinder Bir Singh, 38, both deny religiously aggravated offences.
     
     
    Trial rosecutor Sophie Murray said: “The Crown case is that these two men attended the gurdwara temple as part of a group with the sole intention of disrupting an inter-faith marriage with which they disagreed.”
     
     
    Prosecutors allege Gursharan Singh, of no fixed address, assaulted temple committee member Bhopinder Singh Aujla. A charge he denies.
     
    Giving evidence from behind a screen, Aujla described how another official received a call from a security guard warning him men were "rushing" the gates ahead of a wedding service on 11 September 2016.
     
     
     
     
    He told the court: "Once I'd locked the door, I went towards the dining room just to alert my colleagues that there were people outside banging the doors.
     
     
    "I just started moving out of the way, feeling frightened, and the next thing you know one of them tried to grab me between the legs.
     
     
    "Another one of his colleagues grabbed me quite tightly by my tie and I pushed his hand away."
     
     
    Kulvinder Bir Singh, 38, of Tilehurst Drive, Coventry, denies damaging signs relating to the ceremony at the temple.
     
     
    Leamington gurdwara is one of a small number of Sikh temples in Britain which stages inter-faith weddings and had experienced problems with protesters in the past.
     
     
    The trial continues.

    MORE International ARTICLES

    Indian Americans Raise $2.4 Million For Public Health In India

    Indian Americans Raise $2.4 Million For Public Health In India
    Indian American Chirag Patel and his family have donated $2 million for public health in India

    Indian Americans Raise $2.4 Million For Public Health In India

    Donald Trump Praises India's Growth Story, PM Modi At APEC Summit

    Donald Trump Praises India's Growth Story, PM Modi At APEC Summit
    President Donald Trump said Prime Minister Narendra Modi “has been working to bring that vast country and all of its people together as one”.

    Donald Trump Praises India's Growth Story, PM Modi At APEC Summit

    Pakistan Govt To Arrange Meeting Of Kulbhushan Jadhav With Wife On 'Humanitarian Grounds'

    Pakistan Govt To Arrange Meeting Of Kulbhushan Jadhav With Wife On 'Humanitarian Grounds'
    Pakistan on Friday said it will allow convicted Indian death row prisoner Kulbhushan Jadhav to meet his wife, months after India had requested Islamabad to grant a visa to his mother on humanitarian grounds.

    Pakistan Govt To Arrange Meeting Of Kulbhushan Jadhav With Wife On 'Humanitarian Grounds'

    Indian-Origin Doctor Balvinder Mehat Cleared Over Baby's Circumcision In UK

    Indian-Origin Doctor Balvinder Mehat Cleared Over Baby's Circumcision In UK
    Balvinder Mehat from the Bakersfield Medical Centre in Nottingham is accused of circumcising the child without his mother’s consent for religious reasons.

    Indian-Origin Doctor Balvinder Mehat Cleared Over Baby's Circumcision In UK

    Indian Man Arrested In Germany For Decades-old Murder: Police

    Indian Man Arrested In Germany For Decades-old Murder: Police
    An Indian man was arrested on Thursday at Frankfurt airport over a murder in Scotland 24 years ago, German and Scottish police said.

    Indian Man Arrested In Germany For Decades-old Murder: Police

    NGO Raises $2 Million In Us For Rural Schools In India

    NGO Raises $2 Million In Us For Rural Schools In India
    An NGO known for its innovative single teacher schools in remote rural and tribal areas of India has raised $2 million during a fund-raising event in New York, the foundation said on Thursday.

    NGO Raises $2 Million In Us For Rural Schools In India