Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann approves prosecution of Dera Sacha Sauda head Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh in 2015 sacrilege cases

Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Tuesday approved the prosecution of Dera Sacha Sauda head Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh in the 2015 sacrilege cases, news agency ANI reported.

This comes after the Supreme Court on Friday paved way for the trial.

Ram Rahim had previously moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court challenging the validity of a September 6, 2018 notification of the state government withdrawing the consent given to the CBI to probe these cases and sought a direction to the central probe agency to investigate.

Three alleged incidents of sacrilege of holy Guru Granth Sahib occurred between June and October, 2015, in district Faridkot, Punjab, and an FIR dated June 2, 2015 was registered under the provisions of the IPC at the local police station.

A priest at Gurudwara Singh Sahib at Burj Jawahar Singh Wala Village alleged the scripture of Shri Guru Granth Sahib had been desecrated.

The second incident of sacrilege reportedly occurred on September 24 and 25, 2015, wherein posters containing derogatory remarks about the sacred Guru Granth Sahib and other Sikh religious leaders were found pasted outside the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC)-managed Gurudwara in Bargari. An FIR was thereafter registered at the Bajakhana police station in Faridkot.

Similarly, a third incident pertained to the recovery of 112 torn pages of holy Guru Granth Sahib around the Gurudwara situated at village Bargari on October 12, 2015 in the district and an FIR was registered at the Bajakhana police station.

The high court noted in its order that recurrence of these three incidents of desecration of Guru Granth Sahib in quick succession had led to an unrest in Punjab and protestors collected the torn pages and started protests at Kotkapura Crossing in Faridkot district.

"As the crowd became unruly, it started causing a serious law and order problem. The protestors later turned violent and caused damage to public property forcing the police to eventually resort to firing to disperse the unruly crowd. In addition to the said firing incident at the Kotkapura Crossing, another similar firing incident also took place at village Behbal Kalan," the high court had noted.

It had said two FIRs dated October 14, 2015 and October 21, 2015, respectively, under provisions of the IPC were registered at the police station Bajakhana at Faridkot related to the firing.

The three FIRs on incidents of desecration are called as the "sacrilege cases" while the two FIRs pertaining to the firing due to the incident of violence during the demonstrations against the desecration of holy Guru Granth Sahib were called the "police firing cases".

With PTI inputs