In Punjab, an Influencer's Murder – and the Reaction to it – Stuns Society

Jalandhar: The recent murder of a social media influencer, allegedly by a group of self-styled Sikh hardliners who accused her of "spreading obscenity", has left the Sikh community and public opinion in Punjab divided.

According to officials, the accused have also threatened others with a similar fate in the name of moral policing.

The head of the Sri Akal Takht Sahib and the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), which are the two apex Sikh bodies, have justified the gruesome act. Others have denounced it.

Social media influencer Kamal Kaur, whose real name was Kanchan Tiwari, was murdered on June 10. She was popular in the online world as "Kamal Kaur Bhabhi" and used to operate social media accounts known for posting adult content.

At the aftermath of the murder, such was the fear of backlash from society that no one outside her family attended her cremation.

The Bathinda Cantonment police have registered a first information report (FIR) under sections 103 (punishment for murder), 238 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence, or giving false information to screen offender) and 61 (2) (criminal conspiracy) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023 against Jaspreet Singh (32) from Mehron village, Moga and Nimratjit Singh (21) from Patti in Tarn Taran for strangulating the woman to death on June 10.

The key conspirator Amritpal Singh Mehron, who claimed responsibility for killing Kaur, had forced her to share the passwords of her two mobile phones, which he took along with him before fleeing to Dubai. Mehron styles himself as a Nihang, which is a clan of Sikh warriors.

While the incident has led to widespread outrage, the support of the Akal Takht's head granthi to Mehron has come as a shock to many.

Interacting with the media, head granthi Giani Malkit Singh said, “The killing of the woman accused of spreading obscenity, allegedly orchestrated by Amritpal Mehron, was the right step. This happens to those who defame the Sikh religion.”

He claimed that certain individuals "hide their true identities to defame other religions by promoting vulgarity", which he described as unacceptable and against the principles of the Sikh faith.

He also said that such incidents have occurred in the past as well, and urged the youth to refrain from listening to obscene and vulgar songs.

The Akal Takht's acting jathedar Kuldeep Singh Gargaj also echoed similar sentiments.

SGPC general secretary Gurcharan Singh Grewal told The Wire that their stand was the same as that of the Akal Takht’s decree.

Ironically, no one from the Punjabi film and music industry or renowned Sikh scholars and authors spoke against the murder of Kamal Kaur fearing backlash from the Sikh community. The only exception was Bollywood and Punjabi singer Mika Singh, who castigated those supporting Mehron for murdering the woman.

To further his agenda of moral policing, Mehron also warned other social media influencers – most of them women such as Deepika Luthra and Preet Jatti, as well as some men – of a similar fate if they did not refrain from posting content that he termed as "objectionable".

While Luthra, who had earlier stood beside Mehron and apologised for posting such content, deleted her social media accounts on June 16, Simarpreet Kaur, popular as Preet Jatti, was still running her accounts.

Accused visited victim's house on the pretext of promoting a business

The Kamal Kaur Bhabhi account on Instagram had over four lakh followers. Kaur also had a YouTube channel called ‘Funny Bhabhi TV’, which also had 2.4 lakh followers as well as a Facebook account that had 7.7 lakh followers.

It was learnt that Mehron wanted the victim to remove the surname ‘Kaur’ from her name, which he had claimed was against Sikh morals. Kaur had migrated to Punjab from Uttar Pradesh and used to reside at a modest house in Ludhiana district.

In the FIR, her mother Girja Devi informed the police that on the night of June 7, 2025, Mehron visited their house in Ludhiana on the pretext of promoting a business in Bathinda district.

She told the police that her daughter had initially refused the offer but later went to Bathinda with Mehron on June 9.

She was murdered at around 1 am on June 10, while her body was found on June 11 in her car, which was parked in the parking lot of a hospital in Bathinda.

After the murder, a video surfaced on social media in which Mehron was heard claiming that Kaur was killed by two of his Nihang associates because of her ‘vulgar, obscene and objectionable’ content on social media.

Bathinda's senior superintendent of police (SSP) Amneet Kondal told The Wire that Mehron was a Muslim by birth who converted to Sikhism in 2018.

“Amritpal Singh Mehron was leading a self-styled Sikh advocacy group named ‘Kaum De Rakhe’. He was presenting himself as a leader who used to target youth and children for not following Sikh principles. However, in this case he murdered the woman and fled to Dubai,” she said.

When asked if the police were probing a foreign funding angle, the SSP said they were investigating the matter.

“We have registered an FIR against him and issued an arrest warrant in this case. We are pursuing the process for his early deportation. He is facing three FIRs, out of which two are in Amritsar and Barnala districts," said SSP Kondal.

It was also learnt that Mehron had travelled to the UAE, Laos, Singapore and Malaysia on a work visa. He was a frequent flyer to Dubai.

Previously, Mehron had also visited the family of Indian navy officer Lieutenant Vinay Narwal, who was killed in the Pahalgam terror attack, the SSP said.

Navdeep Singh, a young farmer leader from Ambala district in Haryana, was one among those justifying Kaur's killing and supporting Mehron.

He told The Wire that someone "had to take the charge to stop vulgarity in Punjab" and "Amritpal Singh Mehron did it".

Social media influencer Kamal Kaur, whose real name was Kanchan Tiwari was murdered on June 10. Photo: Instagram/@kamalkaurbhabhi

“As a Sikh, it is our duty in the society to stop and control such acts, which is seriously affecting not just the youth, but children too. This is Punjab, the land of Gurus and the shaheeds [martyrs] of Sikhism and we cannot let this nonsense happen in society,” said Navdeep Singh, who was among the first few to lead the 2020-21 farmers' protest at Delhi.

Meanwhile, Mehron had also contested the Punjab assembly election in 2022 from the Tarn Taran constituency as a candidate of the hardline Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar). As per his affidavit, he has studied till class 12 and is a diesel mechanic by profession.

Justifying the killing and threats to other social media influencers, mostly women, Navdeep Singh pointed out that the name ‘Kaur’ has a deep and respectful history associated with it. “The name ‘Kaur’ is a symbol of sacrifice, but Kanchan Tiwari used it to bring a bad name to Sikhism.”

“Further, there is a limit to everything. Amritpal Mehron had been telling her to stop posting vulgar videos, but she did not listen. We love Punjab and want our children to follow the teachings of our Gurus and not such obscene social media influencers”, he added.

'Talibanisation of Sikhism cannot be accepted in Punjab'

Questioning those justifying Kaur's killing, Sikh scholar and political commentator Malwinder Singh Malli said that Sikhism does not teach anybody to attack the unarmed, women and children.

“Every day in ardas, we recite ‘Sikha nu visah daan, bharosa daan...’ which translates to ‘Sikhs give trust and faith to others’. In contrast, Kamal Kaur trusted Amritpal Mehron and his two aides, but they killed her by deception. There can be no justification of Kamal Kaur’s gruesome killing. Then Amritpal fled to Dubai and again posted a video claiming that he will kill five or six other social media influencers too, if they did not stop posting obscene content, which is gross hooliganism,” he stated.

Malli urged the Punjab police to investigate why Mehron forced Kaur to share her mobile passwords.

“There is more to it than what meets the eye in this case and the police should investigate this angle thoroughly”, he emphasised.

Malli said that those supporting the killing of the social media influencer in the name of saving Sikhism should say whether proverbial vulgarity had more influence than the Sikh religion.

“Amritpal targeted the daughter of a poor person just because it was convenient to do so. By killing her and justifying the dastardly act, the entire Sikh community is appearing weak. The ‘Talibanisation of Sikhism’ will not be acceptable in Punjab.”

Supporting Malli’s viewpoint, activist and farmer leader Jasbir Kaur Natt, who had lead the stage at the Tikri border between Delhi and Haryana during the farmers' protest, told The Wire that there is no doubt that Kaur’s content was obscene and objectionable, but that her killing cannot be justified.

“There is no doubt that her videos were impacting the youth and children, but this cannot be grounds to kill her. I am strongly against this killing. Amritpal Mehron and his two aides killed Kamal Kaur by duping her. Not only did they strangle her to death, they even concealed her body in a car in a parking lot. Amritpal also threatened to kill other content creators. What kind of an act is this?” she questioned.

Natt pointed out how the government had been quick in blocking the social media accounts of those who speak against communal violence or dare to challenge the government.

“We have courts and laws to tackle such issues. The courts also accept an apology; then how can someone kill a person merely because they do not like their content?” she argued.

On Sikh organisations supporting Mehron, she said they can have an opinion of their own but that killing someone was not the solution.

“What if tomorrow those supporting this murder start getting targeted? We cannot let this ‘Talibani farman’ run loose in Punjab, a state which has already witnessed such a code of conduct for women during militancy”, Natt reminded.

Sikh activist and lawyer Paramjeet Singh Gazi, who also runs the Sikh Siyasat, a digital platform on Sikh religious-political issues, said that Mehron was not part of any established Nihang Dal, sampradaye or jatha (group).

He said that Mehron was operating independently and was active on social media platforms for moral policing.

Shedding light on Mehron’s past, the activist said he was among those who had broken the statues of folk dancers situated on Heritage Street near the Golden Temple in Amritsar in 2020. His claim to fame is more controversial than inspiring, he said.

“If Amritpal Mehron killed a social media influencer and was threatening others with a similar fate, I think it speaks volumes about the failure of the government too. The government blocks the social media accounts of many content creators under IT law and various sections of the IPC/BNS, but killing someone for their content is not justified. It [reveals] the shallow mentality of the people who think on these lines,” Gazi added.

'Our Gurus have always glorified women': Nihang group objects to murder

Another Nihang leader, Baba Balbir Singh 96 Crori from the Budha Dal, a Sikh warrior order, strongly objected to Kaur's killing and said that a Sikh never attacks an unarmed person, especially a woman.

“Our Gurus have always glorified women and have been releasing edicts to save women,” said Singh.

He emphasised that after tenth Sikh Guru Gobind Singh, those who have headed the Akal Takht have included 11 Jathedars from the Budha Dal.

“We have a history of saving Hindu women and standing for truth; killing someone like this was not justified”, he added.

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