Two heroic Sikh men have broken their religious protocol by removing his turban to help save four men from drowning in a canal.
Inderpal Singh, aged 34, rushed to help the men, taking off his turban, then unraveling it and throwing it out as a life line, after spotting the men were struggling to keep their heads above the gushing water in a canal at Sular Ghaat, in Northern India.
Mobile phone footage shows the dramatic moment Mr Singh leapt to action from where he was sitting on the canal embankment, on Sunday, reports NDTV.
The four drowning men, aged 18-25 years, had entered the canal as part of a religious ceremony to submerge a Ganesha idol when a gush of water made them lose their footing.
After attempting to pull them out with a wire that was lying on the embankment which broke in the act, Mr Singh took off his turban and tossed it into the water.
A turban – or Dastaar – is worn to protect the Kesh (uncut hair), one of the five articles of faith in Sikhism. It is a doctrine of Sikhism that one can only remove their turbans at home, while bathing.
Kanwaljit Singh later helped in the rescue by doing the same thing.
‘My immediate reaction was to jump into the canal and try to save them. But I cannot swim. So I removed my turban and used it to save the boys,’ he said.
