After large scale violence in Panchkula on Friday, the quantum of sentence to the controversial godman Gurmeet Ram Rahim would now be announced in Rohtak where he is lodged in a jail.
The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Saturday ordered the Haryana Government to make necessary arrangements for the special CBI judge to be flown to the Rohtak district jail, where rape-convict Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh is lodged, for hearing on the quantum of sentence against the Dera Sacha Sauda chief on Monday.
The High Court asked the State Government to make arrangements for security and safe transport by air of the judicial officer and two staff members.
Special CBI judge Jagdeep Singh, while holding the Sirsa-based Dera chief guilty of raping two female followers more than 15 years ago, had on Friday said the quantum of sentence would be pronounced on August 28.
After the conviction in Panchkula, the self-styled godman was flown to Rohtak as his followers went on rampage in the town and many others parts of Haryana and Punjab. Thirty-two people were killed and over 250 injured in the violence.
The high court on Saturday notified the district jail in Sunaria in Rohtak “as a place of sitting of CBI court of Additional District and Sessions Judge, Panchkula for the purpose of hearing on the quantum of sentence and pronouncement of the sentence in respect of the case titled as CBI versus Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh.”
“For the above purpose suitable accommodation for court room etc in the district jail Rohtak in Sunaria shall be provided and also arrangement be made for the lawyers and parties to have an easy access to the courtroom,” a high court notification said.
HC slams Haryana CM for ‘political patronage’ to Dera chief
Chandigarh: Earlier, the Punjab and Haryana High Court slammed Haryana Chief Minister Manohar lal Khattar for “protecting and extending political patronage” to Gurmeet Ram Rahim, and asked the state to register a case against those who instigated the widespread violence by Dera followers after the sect leader was convicted of rape.
Directing the state to verify a newspaper report on alleged instigation by the sect leaders, the High Court directed the registration of a first information report (FIR) against the instigators “if the reporter stood by his report”.
The High Court bench of Justices S.S. Saron, Surya Kant and Avneesh Jhingan, in its resumed hearing, asked the state about its plans to sanitise the Dera Sacha Sauda located in Sirsa town, some 260 km from here, which is reported to still have thousands of followers inside.
Getting tough, the judges also slammed state Education Minister Ram Bilas Sharma for having recently given a grant of Rs 51 lakh to the Dera.
The judges directed the Deputy Commissioners of Punjab and Haryana to provide a list of Dera properties and told them not to sell or transfer the properties.
The court also sought a status report on the deaths in the violence.
A CBI court in Haryana’s Panchkula town, adjoining Chandigarh, on Friday held the Dera chief guilty of rape and sexual exploitation of two women followers in 2002, sparking widespread violence by his followers. The security forces opened fire to control the mob.
At least 32 people, 29 of them in Panchkula town, died in the violence, and 250 others were injured. Vehicles and property were also damaged and set on fire by the unruly Dera followers.