Woman with national flag tattoo on face denied entry into Golden Temple

Amritsar, April 17

A video has gone viral showing a Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) employee stopping a woman tourist with the national flag tattoo painted on her face from entering the Golden Temple, also known as the Harmandir Sahib.

She claimed that she was denied entry over the tricolour row.

The sewadar, an SGPC employee, who denied her entry, was heard purportedly saying "This is Punjab, not India" when the woman said this was the Indian flag.

In the 40-second video clip, two people accompanying the woman were heard asking the guard "Is the Golden Temple not in India?" On being asked why the woman was not allowed to enter the holy shrine, he pointed out the flag painted on the woman's face.

The guard also tried to stop the woman and the man accompanying her from capturing the incident on their phone.

Apologising for misbehaviour by its employees towards the visitors, SGPC General Secretary Gurcharan Grewal told the media that this is a Sikh shrine. Every religious place has its own decorum.

"We welcome everyone. We apologise if an official misbehaved. The flag on her face was not our national flag as it didn't have Ashoka Chakra. It could have been a political flag."

Slamming the people for criticising the SGPC on the social media, he said, "Don't these people know that Sikhs have played a great part in India's Independence? Will anyone tweet about who sacrificed 90 out of 100 heads for the national flag? The Sikhs are being defamed intentionally."