{"id":2425,"date":"2012-05-02T20:56:00","date_gmt":"2012-05-02T20:56:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rf.podcastfixit.com\/index.php\/2012\/05\/02\/sikh-temple-board-responds-to-reports\/"},"modified":"2015-06-01T19:42:05","modified_gmt":"2015-06-01T19:42:05","slug":"sikh-temple-board-responds-to-reports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/index.php\/2012\/05\/02\/sikh-temple-board-responds-to-reports\/","title":{"rendered":"Sikh temple board responds to reports of violence"},"content":{"rendered":"
\nBy Robert Frank<\/b><\/div>\n
\nwww.thesuburban.com<\/a><\/div>\n
\n\n<\/div>\n
\nConcerned about recent media reports about violence at the Dollard des Ormeaux Sikh temple, the troubled congregation\u2019s board invited The Suburban to a meeting April 22, with seven members of the temple\u2019s directors and seven other parishioners.<\/div>\n
\n\n<\/div>\n
\nTemple spokesman Mukhbir Singh screened a disturbing cellphone video recording of a donnybrook between congregation members, which allegedly took place in the basement dining hall of Gurdwara Sahib of Greater Montreal on the afternoon of March 11.<\/div>\n
\n\n<\/div>\n
\nLater that day, temple priest Hardeep Singh Randhawa, who briefly appeared at the periphery of the handheld video and was not visibly involved in the m\u00eal\u00e9e, complained to police that immediately afterward, several members of the congregation entered his nearby basement quarters to which he had fled, blamed him for the brawl, beat him and expelled him from the temple.<\/div>\n
\n\n<\/div>\n
\nMukhbir Singh also screened a security video showing Giani Randhawa leaving the temple carrying two bags on his back. Mr. Singh added that all such videos have been turned over to police to assist their ongoing investigation.<\/div>\n
\n\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n Temple treasurer Hardip Singh Ghuman told The Suburban that Giani Randhawa was not a Sikh priest but was, in fact, a truck driver in India who was taken under the temple\u2019s wing solely for compassionate reasons and was given a small stipend because he was an impoverished refugee claimant. <\/p>\n

Mr. Ghuman added that Giani Randhawa had not trained as a Sikh priest and asserted that the congregation\u2019s needs are adequately served by its head priest, Bhai Kora Singh (Bhai is a Punjabi term similar to Brother). The congregation also employs three clerics whose role, said former president Manjeet Singh, is similar to Jewish cantors. <\/p>\n

Mr. Ghuman was adamant that the congregation had no need of a second priest and that Giani Randhawa never served in that capacity at Gurdwara Sahib of Greater Montreal. <\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

However, The Suburban <\/i>obtained from Giani Randhawa a copy of a letter dated 6 June 2006, signed by Kewal Singh, who was, at the time, congregation president.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\nThe letter attests that Giani Randhawa was hired on Dec. 1, 2005. It states that from 1968 to 1975, Giani Randhawa was trained at a well-known \u201ctaksal\u201d (an institution which trains Sikh priests) in India. It adds that Giani Randhawa previously helped four other Sikh temples and explains that growth at the Dollard temple had made the hiring of a second priest \u201cvery urgent\u201d because the lone priest had \u201calways demanded an assistant”. <\/p>\n

\nThe letter details a variety of time-consuming duties and stipulates that his \u201cweekly salary\u201d was $275. <\/p>\n

\nQuebec government documents show that Hardeep Singh Rhandhawa registered a trucking company Dec. 16, 2005, two weeks before the DDO Sikh temple letter says that he was hired. <\/p>\n

\n\u201cComments made by individuals suggesting that he was a truck driver or about his stipend are irrelevant to the fact that he was not assaulted and has fabricated this story to humiliate and play party to an opposing faction that wants to malign the community and its members,\u201d Mukhbir Singh stated in an electronic mail message the following day.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n<\/a><\/div>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\nAccording to Montreal\u2019s Immigrant Worker Centre, broke and homeless Sikh priest Hardeep Singh Randhawa was paid $100 per week for the past seven years, before he was expelled March 11. On April 22, former president Manjeet Singh told The Suburban<\/i> that the DDO Sikh temple has retained lawyer Julius Gray to handle its court battle with a faction competing for control of the congregation\u2019s board of directors.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Robert Frank www.thesuburban.com Concerned about recent media reports about violence at the Dollard des Ormeaux Sikh temple, the troubled congregation\u2019s board invited The Suburban to a meeting April 22, with seven members of the temple\u2019s directors and seven other parishioners. Temple spokesman Mukhbir Singh screened a disturbing cellphone video recording of a donnybrook between congregation members, which allegedly took place in the basement dining<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5710,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2425","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nSikh temple board responds to reports of violence - Newscoverage<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/index.php\/2012\/05\/02\/sikh-temple-board-responds-to-reports\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sikh temple board responds to reports of violence - Newscoverage\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Robert Frank www.thesuburban.com Concerned about recent media reports about violence at the Dollard des Ormeaux Sikh temple, the troubled congregation\u2019s board invited The Suburban to a meeting April 22, with seven members of the temple\u2019s directors and seven other parishioners. 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