2021 Singhu border lynching

In the early hours of 15 October 2021, Lakhbir Singh, a Dalit Sikh labourer from Cheema Khurd village in Tarn Taran district, Punjab, was killed at the Singhu border, near the farmers' protest (Kisan Morcha) site outside Delhi. According to accounts, Lakhbir arrived at a camp of Nihang Sikhs at the protest site and threw a copy of the Sri Sarbloh Granth to the ground, along with other alleged acts of desecration. Lakhbir reportedly admitted to having received a phone call instructing him to carry out these actions in exchange for a monetary reward.

The killing reportedly began with the amputation of one of the victim's hands and a leg, after which his body was hanged from a barricade near the protest site. A Nihang Sikh group took responsibility for the killing, framing it as retribution for the alleged sacrilege of their holy scripture. One Nihang individual accepted responsibility for the killing and turned himself in to police the same day. A second accused, also from the Nihang group, was arrested separately by Amritsar police; after being taken into custody, this second individual claimed he had voluntarily surrendered.

The Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), the umbrella body coordinating the farmers' protest, publicly distanced itself from both the alleged desecration and the subsequent killing, and stated it would cooperate with the police investigation. The Bhim Army, a Dalit rights organization, extended financial support to the victim's family and called for an impartial investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Separately, a coalition of 15 Dalit organizations demanded strict action against those responsible, characterizing the killing as an incident of targeting a Dalit individual.

Following the killing, Lakhbir Singh's family filed a complaint with the National Commission for Scheduled Castes, alleging a lack of support from the Punjab state government.

Background reporting indicates that villagers in Cheema Khurd had seen the main accused, identified as Sarabjit Singh, in the area roughly three months prior to the killing, near the Sarai Amanat Khan police station, and later driving a vehicle close to a langar hall under construction near the village. On 12 October 2021, Lakhbir was reportedly seen leaving a local market when a man on a motorbike picked him up near a cremation ground crossing and handed him over to two Nihang individuals. Family members of Lakhbir denied that he had any role in the alleged act of sacrilege.

This incident occurred amid a broader pattern of lynchings related to allegations of sacrilege in Punjab during this period, including other reported cases at protest sites.