In an unprecedented saga of violence and mayhem, over 30 people were feared killed and over 250 injured in violence soon after Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim was convicted in a 15-year-old rape case and taken into custody on Friday.
CBI judge Jagdeep Singh, while holding the Dera chief guilty of raping a female follower, said the quantum of sentence would be pronounced on August 28. The punishment can be a jail term for not less than seven years but may even extend to life imprisonment.
The supporters of the controversial godman had been camping in Panchkula for the last three days and soon after the verdict was announced, they went berserk — burning all vehicles that came their way, beating journalists and bystanders, burning the Outdoor Broadcasting (OB) vans of TV channels and throwing stones at security forces.
The forces first resorted to water cannons, then teargas and cane charge, and finally firing at the unruly crowd carrying sharp weapons, lathis and stones. So prepared were the supporters of Ram Rahim that within two hours of the verdict of the CBI court, there were trail of deaths, burnt vehicles, buildings and railway stations in Punjab and Haryana.
Security establishment in Punjab and Haryana fear that the situation could worsen and are taking all possible steps to contain violence.
The BJP-led State Government failed to sense the gravity of the situation and could not stop thousands of followers to gather at Panchkula in the past three days even as “high alert” was issued and
prohibitory orders was clamped in Haryana.
In no time, it was complete anarchy in and around Panchkula town, adjoining Chandigarh, after the verdict was pronounced. Witnesses and residents said about more than 2,000 vehicles and Government buildings were set on fire in Panchkula, sending huge plumes of smoke rising into the sky.
Panchkula residents said the mobs invaded and tried to set fire to a bakery, a cinema theatre and a hotel, besides torching scores of cars and two-wheelers. Residents shut themselves inside their homes throughout the day.
The vastly outnumbered security forces were seen running for cover in some places as thousands of Dera supporters charged at them.
The Dera followers, in thousands, had gathered in Panchkula from various areas of Punjab and Haryana ahead of Friday’s court verdict, in a brazen violation of orders banning the assembly of more than four people in Haryana.
Amid the violence and burning of Panchkula, the convict Ram Rahim was first taken to the headquarters of the Western Command at Chandimandir and then airlifted to Rohtak where he will be put in a jail till the pronouncement of the quantum of sentence by the CBI court in Panchkula.
As the supporters of Gurmeet Ram Rahim had been assembling in the deras of their area, the unrest which began in Panchkula spread to other parts of Haryana and Punjab in no time and even New Delhi and Rajasthan where stray incidents were reported.
Vivek Bhadu, Chief Medical Officer at the civil hospital in Panchkula, was a harried man, busy attending the injured. The seriously injured were referred to PGIMER hospital and Government Medical College in Chandigarh where most of the deaths took place, he said. Bhadu said most of the deaths were due to bullet injuries, suggesting that they were shot while creating trouble by the security forces.
Haryana DGP B S Sandhu, who visited the civil hospital at Sector 6 Panchkula and other parts of the violence-torn city, said over a thousand Dera followers have been taken into custody. “Dera followers have been flushed out of Panchkula while over a thousand have been taken into preventive custody,” said Sandhu, claiming that the situation is under control.
A stream of ambulances brought in injured people soaked in blood to the civil hospital here and at PGIMER hospital.
Curfew was clamped in Panchkula, the headquarters of the Dera in Sirsa and Kaithal by evening. Haryana Chief Minister Manohar lal has appealed to the people of the State to maintain peace and law and order and not to take the law into their own hands.
“Strict action will be taken against those who disturb the peace,” he said. The Chief Minister said adequate security preparations have been made by the State Government.
In Punjab, the Malwa region, bordering Haryana and considered as the stronghold the Dera, saw violence and curfew. Notwithstanding huge deployment of police and paramilitary forces across Punjab to keep the situation under control, curfew has been imposed in six districts - Ferozepur, Faridkot, Mansa, Patiala, Bathinda and Malout- till the filing of the report. Faridkot Deputy Commissioner also ordered to impose curfew in the municipal limits of Faridkot, Kotkapura and Jaitu cities of the district from 5 pm to 8 am on August 26.
The State has declared Barnala, Kotkapura, Sangrur, Malaout, Bathinda, Ropar, Fatehgarh Sahib “sensitive” in the wake of the verdict.
The “upset” Dera followers went out on streets, torching the railway stations at Malout and Balluanna, besides the telephones exchange and power grids at some places. As many as 25 cases of petrol bombs have been reported, so far, from Punjab.
Appealing for peace, Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh has asked the State Director General of Police (DGP) Suresh Arora to impose curfew in Dera-dominated areas. Soon after which, the orders were passed to impose curfew at five places in the state.
Capt Amarinder, who is closely monitoring the situation, has also asked the Congress Ministers and the party MlAs to coordinate with police and civil administration to check the situation.