Minor Dispute Flares Up Into Standoff Between 'Nihangs' & Uttarakhand Police

June

2026

A minor dispute over parking vehicles turned into a clash between a group of Nihangs (traditional warriors) returning from Gurudwara Sri Hemkund Sahib and locals in Karanprayag, Chamoli district, Uttarakhand on 16 Jan. The verbal dispute turned armed when locals, armed with sticks and stones, pushed a Nihang to the ground, and other Nihangs pulled out their swords. In the fight, four locals and one Nihang were injured. On 17 Jun, the Uttarakhand police arrested the four Nihangs: Manpreet Singh and Satwinder Singh, aged 21 years; Jasanpreet Singh and Ajay Singh, aged 23 years. Karanprayag police said the arrests were made on the complaint by a Karanprayag resident, Gajpal Singh, one of the injured. Initially, the Uttarakhand police did not take any actions against the locals. A Shiromani Akali Dal (Waris Panjab De) delegation, including Member of Parliament Sarabjeet Singh Khalsa, Panjab Member of Legislative Assembly Manpreet Singh Ayali, and others met Uttarakhand Director General of Police Deepak Seth, who agreed to file a cross complaint against locals, and set up a Special Investigation Team to probe the matter. Meanwhile, 15 kms from Karanprayag, at Nagarasu, Rudraprayag district, after an altercation with the local Gurdwara Langar Damdama Sahib management on 21 Jun, some Nihangs climbed onto the roof of the Gurdwara. Rudraprayag administration rapidly deployed a large number of Provincial Armed Constabulary and Indo-Tibetan Border Police. According to Rudraprayag District Magistrate Vishal Mishra, the matter was resolved after the last of the agitators came down from the Gurdwara’s roof on 23 Jun evening. Gurdwara Sri Hemkund Sahib Management Trust, Govindghat, requested devotees to refrain from actions that hurt religious sentiments, avoid disputes, and cooperate in maintaining law and order and social harmony during the journey. The core issue is that while the Indian Constitution safeguards the Sikh right to carry their article of faith—the kirpan (traditional sword)—its length is not specified either in the Constitution or in Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, earlier Code of Criminal Procedure. Also, there is a great need for respective state governments to formalize protocols of behavior and engagement of pilgrims and tourists with locals. Interestingly, most social media posts covering both the incidents and views of Sikhs in India and abroad have been scrubbed clean from the internet (earlier coverage).