Chandigarh, India - Shops, businesses and schools in the northern Indian state of Punjab closed on Tuesday as thousands of Sikhs obeyed a call by their religious leaders to strike in protest against a sect they accuse of sacrilege.
Thousands of armed police fanned out across the state after clashes over the last week in which at least one person died and 50 were injured. Streets in Punjabi towns were deserted, with shops locked down and children staying at home.
The shutdown was peaceful in Punjab, but in neighbouring Haryana, skirmishes broke out at two places in Ambala between police and protesters leaving 10 injured, including an SP.
In Jammu and Kashmir, the bandh was complete in Jammu, Udhampur and Poonch where protesters torched effigies of Dera chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh and demanded his immediate arrest.
The clashes began last week after the controversial leader of the Dera Sacha Sauda sect, which combines spirituality with social work, dressed up as Guru Gobind Singh, the revered 17th century Sikh guru.
Skirmishes between rival groups flared into mob violence on Thursday when the Sikh religion's highest spiritual body, the Akal Takht, urged Sikhs to boycott the sect.
The sect leader, Gurmeet Ram Raheem Singh, has denied any wrongdoing. Sikh leaders have demanded an apology.
In some towns, Sikhs gathered for protest marches but police quickly dispersed them. Authorities forbade meetings of more than five people on Tuesday to avert possible violence."
"Law and order would be maintained at all costs and no one would be allowed to resort to hooliganism or disturb peace," Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal said.
The chief minister said no Sikh would be allowed to carry arms or brandish traditional swords during protests.
Lawyers in many cities decided to stay away from courts.
The Dera sect, which has tens of thousands of followers, says it is a social organisation that believes in the oneness of God and does not adhere to a particular faith, although its leader wears a turban and has a long beard in the Sikh style.