Guru Tegh Bahadur row: Punjab police file FIR over ‘doctored’ video

The row over alleged remarks by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) senior leader Atishi on Guru Tegh Bahadur in the Delhi Assembly took a new turn on Friday with the Jalandhar Police Commissionerate filing an FIR against uploading and circulating “doctored video” of her on social media by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and Delhi Minister Kapil Mishra.

The Punjab police said that a forensic examination of the video posted by Mr. Mishra showed that the word ‘Guru’ was “not uttered” by Ms. Atishi. But the police did not clarify whether the FIR has been registered against Mr. Mishra.

The police action in AAP-ruled Punjab was raised by BJP MLAs in the Assembly. Speaker Vijender Gupta said the Punjab police move amounts to “breach of privilege” of the House as the video recordings from inside the Assembly “belong exclusively to the House”.

“The House takes cognizance of the matter formally and will consider appropriate action against the Police Commissioner of Jalandhar,” the Speaker said.

The BJP MLAs have called for Ms. Atishi’s membership to be revoked for “insulting” the Sikh guru. AAP has denied the claims and accused Mr. Mishra of posting an “edited video”.