Judge Backs Temple Directors : Courts: Sikh dissidents who refuse to leave the North Hollywood site could face expulsion and arrest.

A judge ordered control of a faction-ridden Sikh temple in North Hollywood returned to its directors Tuesday, setting the stage for the expulsion and possible arrest of dissidents who had refused to leave the sanctuary.

On Tuesday, a dozen worshipers continued to pray inside the Sikh Gurdwara temple, as they have for two weeks. Some said they would comply with any court order, but others said they would allow themselves to be arrested as a form of peaceful protest.

“We told the police and the judge we are not bad people,” said Surinder Singh Sidhu, in an interview at the temple Tuesday night. “We have the right to stay here and pray.”

Police will wait to hear from temple directors before deciding on a course of action, said LAPD Capt. David Doan late Tuesday. Doan said lawyers for the city had reviewed the court order earlier in the day.

There has been no violence at the temple since Oct. 3, when several directors claimed that they were injured as factions battled physically for control of the structure.

It was the second temporary restraining order issued by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Robert O’Brien in favor of the directors in the extraordinary dispute. Earlier, he had ordered 10 dissidents by name to leave the sanctuary, but when they complied, dozens more took their places.

“The judge is affirming the rights of our clients to exclude any and all trespassers from the property,” said Kathleen A. Byrne, the lawyer representing the directors.

But the lawyer representing those inside the temple said he would appeal on the grounds of religious freedom.

“I’m very disappointed,” said Philip A. Putnam, lawyer for the dissidents. “He (the judge) has violated these people’s constitutional rights to the freedom of religion and the freedom to peacefully assemble.”

The unusual impasse partly reflects disputes over temple finances and doctrine, according to members. Parallel disputes over local control have occurred at Sikh temples in Orange County, and elsewhere in California.

O’Brien scheduled a hearing on the overall dispute for Nov. 5, leaving the directors in charge until then.

In court Tuesday, O’Brien told lawyers for both sides that the time had come to “prevent violence” and “preserve peace” until all legal questions could be resolved.

No Sikh would be deprived of religious rights because each can worship at other Sikh temples, O’Brien said.

“There are strangers in the temple . . . who are just staying there,” said Kevin O’Connell, an attorney for the board of directors, during the hearing. O’Connell told O’Brien that his clients, backed by a majority of the temple members, want the building to remain closed pending an outcome of the lawsuit.

Putnam argued that granting the temporary restraining order would deprive his clients of their right to worship.

“They’re not trespassers, they’re worshipers,” Putnam said.

The violent potential of the religious dispute was described in court papers. Directors alleged that Jaspal K. Mann, a member and wife of temple president Sarabjit S. Mann, had been attacked, threatened, assaulted and battered when a white car carrying five to seven passengers tried to run into her car Friday morning as she pulled onto the Pomona Freeway.

Mann alleged in a declaration filed in support of the request for the court order that one of the passengers leaned out of the car, pointing a gun at her and gesturing at her to roll down her window. When she complied, some of the passengers shouted obscenities at her and ordered her to stop, which she did, according to the deposition.

At that point, a man she identified as Majar Singh, a defendant in the lawsuit, asked Mann where her husband was and then threatened to kill him and her family if they did not back off the temple dispute, Mann stated in the declaration.

The driver of the white car subsequently tried again to ram into Mann’s car, directors alleged in court papers. Mann left the freeway and called Pomona police from a gas station, according to the declaration.

Maurice Schwartz, an attorney representing Majar Singh, said Singh is not the man described in the court papers. A man at the temple Tuesday who identified himself as the man described in court papers as Majar Singh denied the threat, saying he was at the temple at the time.