Punjab to file special leave petition in top court
On March 11, while hearing a plea filed by Ram Rahim in 2015 sacrilege cases, the high court had stayed further proceeding against the Sirsa dera head.
Bargari sacrilege
The Punjab government is preparing to file a special leave petition (SLP) in the Supreme Court to challenge the Punjab and Haryana high court order staying proceedings before a trial court in three interlinked cases of Bargari sacrilege against Sirsa-based Dera Sacha Sauda head Gurmeet Ram Rahim.
On March 11, while hearing a plea filed by Ram Rahim in 2015 sacrilege cases, the high court had stayed further proceeding against the Sirsa dera head. On December 13, 2021, Ram Rahim had moved the high court demanding that the CBI be asked to continue with the probe into three sacrilege FIRs of 2015. The plea also challenged the Punjab government notification of September 6, 2018, wide which the consent given to the CBI to investigate these FIRs of sacrilege cases was withdrawn.
A member of the special investigation team (SIT) probing 2015 sacrilege cases, on condition of anonymity, said the probe team is preparing to move an SLP in the SC to challenge the high court stay on the trial in three interlinked Bargari sacrilege cases. “We are consulting with the legal experts and soon we will move the Supreme Court,” the official added.
In February last year, the SC had transferred the trial against Ram Rahim and seven followers in three interlinked cases of Bargari sacrilege from a court in Faridkot to Chandigarh. The move came after dera follower Pardeep Singh Kataria, an accused in the 2015 Bargari sacrilege case, was shot dead on November 10, 2022, and other accused moved the apex court seeking transfer of the case.
A ‘bir’ (copy) of Guru Granth Sahib was stolen from Burj Jawahar Singh Wala village gurdwara on June 1, 2015. An FIR was registered the next day. Three derogatory posters threatening sacrilege were pasted at Bargari and Burj Jawahar Singh Wala villages in 2015, following which an FIR was registered. On October 12, 2015, torn pages of the ‘bir’ were found scattered in front of a gurdwara in the adjoining Bargari village, resulting in an outrage across the state and the killing of two Sikh protesters in firing.
The Punjab police SIT found that the conspiracy of desecration of Sikh scriptures was hatched at the administrative block of Dera Sacha Sauda in Sirsa and that the followers never acted without the permission of sect head Ram Rahim. The SIT has filed chargesheets against Ram Rahim in the three cases, naming him the “main conspirator”.
During assembly session Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann on Wednesday said his government will grant prosecution sanction for the trial against Ram Rahim in a 2015 sacrilege case. While taking part in discussions, Mann told the House that “the state government has got major clues in the sacrilege incidents and a fresh report has already been sent for legal vetting.”
The state government is yet to give sanction to prosecute Ram Rahim in the Bargari sacrilege cases, as the proposal is pending with the state home department. The SIT had submitted a proposal to the government in 2022 seeking sanction to prosecute Ram Rahim under section 295-A of the IPC.
Meanwhile, the SIT is likely to turn Pardeep Kler, one of the three dera national committee members who are key conspirators in five sacrilege cases of 2015, an approver.
Official sources confirmed that SIT has no plan to file any new chargesheet in the case at this stage.
Dera head hatched conspiracy for revenge: SIT final report
In April 2022 around seven years after the Bargari sacrilege incident, SIT head ADGP SPS Parmar in its final report found no political involvement and concluded that the crime was committed following a conspiracy by dera followers on the directions of dera head for revenge. CM Mann had handed over the report to Sikh community leader.
The SIT claimed that it was Ram Rahim who ordered to carry out sacrilege to avenge the insult of sect followers by a Sikh preacher.
During a diwan (religious congregation) on March 22, 2015, Harjinder Singh Manjhi, a Sikh preacher, asked some dera followers to remove their lockets or leave. Bittu raised the issue with dera’s national committee members Sandeep Bareta, Pardeep Kler and Harsh Dhuri, who saw it as an act of sacrilege and decided to take revenge. The sacrilege conspiracy was hatched thereafter,” the report said.
The SIT probing the sacrilege cases claims to have found that the instructions to execute the sacrilege at Bargari, Moga and Gurusar were given by Bareta, Kler and Dhuri, to the district dera committee members. “The trio had met dera follower Mohinder Pal Bittu (who was killed in Nabha jail) and instructed him for the theft and sacrilege,” SIT claimed.
