An Indian police officer praised for his bravery after a video of him saving a Muslim man from a mob in a Hindu temple went viral last week has refuted reports that he received death threats.
Sub-Inspector Gagandeep Singh was responding to a situation in Ramnagar town in the north-Indian state of Uttrakhand, where a mob had gathered after reports of a Muslim man meeting a woman in a Hindu temple last Tuesday.
The angry mob accused the man of ‘Love Jihad’ – a term used by right-wing fringe groups who accuse Muslim men of seducing Hindu women.
Officer Singh was filmed shielding the man from the angry men who attacked him, slapping and jabbing the man. The turbaned police officer is shown holding the man, saving him from blows using his body.
As the story of a Sikh police officer saving a Muslim man made headlines across Indian and in many other countries, Officer Singh said he was just doing his duty.
“I would have failed in doing my duty if I didn’t save him,” he said adding that religion shouldn’t come in the matter of saving lives.
Quoting Mr Singh’s colleagues in the police, the BBC on Wednesday reported that the officer had received death threats since the incident and that he has since been put on leave.
“There’s no such thing. In fact, I got to know about this from other people. I have been enjoying my holiday,” he said.
His boss and the Senior Superintendent of Police of Nainital District, Janmejay Khanduri also refuted the reports of threats to Mr Singh.
“I have also heard of these reports. But these are only media reports sans any basis,” he said.
Mr Khanduri said officer Singh had been rewarded for his quick thinking.
“It was like a soldier guarding the border. Something happens and the soldier is supposed to react. He [Sub-Inspector Singh] also reacted and his reaction was very good and we have rewarded him for this,” Mr Khanduri told SBS Punjabi.
The reported that soon after the incident on last Tuesday, Mr Singh was accused of defending “indecent behaviour”.
A member of the state legislative assembly also reportedly justified the actions of the mob.
"It's wrong when these people [Muslim men] bring Hindu girls to our places of worship despite knowing it's a temple and it's pious," Rakesh Nainwal of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), told BBC Punjabi.
While officer Singh has been applauded for saving the life of a Muslim man, some commentators have expressed concern over the communal connotations attached to the incident.
“The sheer fact that this is out of the normal, in the way we describe our status quo, should elicit worry not pride in the way we see our nation,” wrote Harnidh Kaur, a poet and feminist.
“What Gagandeep Singh did should be our reality, and an event to applaud and move on from. His bravery should have been a reaffirmation of our ethos as a people, not an unusual paradigm we stare at,” she wrote in .
