Skip to main content

Punjab should again seek custodial interrogation of Dera Sacha Sauda chief Ram Rahim in cases of sacrilege and bomb blast

 




Punjab should again seek custodial interrogation of Dera Sacha Sauda chief Ram Rahim

Ground Zero

Jagtar Singh

The Haryana government seems to have created record of sort of granting repeated parole to Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Singh Ram Rahim Singh  who is in jail following conviction in rape and murder cases. The Dera headquarters is  in located in Sirsa in Haryana.

His name has figured in the cases relating to bomb blast in Maur in Bathinda district in Punjab killing several people close to 2017 Assembly elections and sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib at Bargari in Faridkot district in 2015. The Bargari narrative started with theft of Guru Granth Sahib on June 1 from a gurdwara in Burj Jawahar Singh Wala village adjoining Bargari on June 1, 2015.

Yet another case against him relating to blasphemy registered in 2007 was withdrawn five days before the 2012 Assembly elections when Punjab was being ruled by the Shiromani Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party alliance with Parkash Singh Badal as the chief minister in his fourth term.

Punjab is witnessing sustained agitation for the release of Sikh prisoners who have been in jail for years relating to the period of militant struggle. They have been in jails for periods more than two decades.

It is pertinent to mention here that those who were sentenced in the case of assassination of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi too have been released. The Tamil Nadu government had facilitated their case. They are Sri Lankans.

Akali Dal chief Sukhbir Singh Badal and Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee president Harcharan Singh Dhami have rightly raised the issue as to in case the Dera chief can be given parole time and again, why not release the Sikh prisoners. But both of them stop at that.

It may be recalled that Punjab had earlier sought custodial interrogation of Gurmeet but was denied the same. One of the issues that was raised in denying custodial access to Punjab was regarding security. Several of the accused in the sacrilege cases have been gunned down overtime.

However, that issue of security can also be raised in the case of grant of repeated parole to him by the Haryana government.

It is not known whether another prisoner in jail in similar cases has been provided similar facility.

The cases of sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib and the Maur blast are linked to Dera Sacha Sauda. Three of the activists this Dera have been declared proclaimed offenders in these cases.

Punjab had witnessed massive protests and Sikh mobilisation in 2015 against sacrilege.  The state was under Akali Dal-BJP rule. The so-called leaders spearheading what used to be spontaneous protests over the years have repeatedly failed the Sikh masses. These leaders have suffered dent in their credibility. The latent anger is now reflected the electoral domain.

The Akali Dal lost to the Congress in 2017. The Congress had promised action in sacrilege cases but failed. The people threw out this party and backed the Aam Aadmi Party with an unprecedented mandate in 2022. This party too had promised to deliver in these cases. There has been little progress. Party MLA and former police official Kunwar Vijay Partap Singh  who had probed these cases during Congress regime and later resigned is on record stating that there was little hope of getting justice.

It may also be mentioned that not only the blasphemy case against Dera chief was withdrawn in 2012,  he was exonerated by the Sikh clergy too in September 2015 following a meeting of Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Gurbachan Singh and his associates at the official residence of chief minister Parkash Singh Badal. That exoneration was stoutly defended by the SGPC by spending about Rs 90 lakh on ads inserted in newspapers. The clergy had issued edict against him in 2007.

Although his parole has been objected to, these political leaders are not raising the issue of his custodial interrogation.

In case he can be granted parole repeatedly, why not allow his custodial interrogation by Punjab Police? It is for Punjab to ensure his security in case that precisely is the issue.

The cases in which his name has figured should move forward.

And Punjab should again apply for his custodial interrogation.

After all, AAP had promised speedy justice in these cases.

 


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Sinister and deep design to divide Sikhs and Hindus in Canada needs to be exposed

  Sinister and deep design to divide Sikhs and Hindus in Canada needs to be exposed Ground Zero Jagtar Singh Chandigarh: Let us decode deeper design in what apparently seems to be deliberate distortion of facts in case of the so-called Sikh-Hindu clash in Canada to project it as confrontation between the two communities. The Indian media and the establishment gave it out as a communal conflict and attack on a Mandir, the Hindu place of worship. Let us first put the matter straight from the evidence available in the form of videos relating to every dimension of this narrative and the statements. It was neither a Sikh-Hindu clash nor an attack on the Hindu temple per se. It was a protest by the SFJ activists against the Indian consulate organizing a camp there. Such protests have been held against the consulate outside the gurdwaras too as per the record. The saner statement issued by the Hindu Federation of November 4 is very important in the interpretation of this narra...

History seems to be ominously repeating itself to drive Punjab into religio-political minefield again

  History ominously repeating itself to drive Punjab into religio-political minefield again Ground Zero Jagtar Singh This headline is not rooted in some sort of pessimism. The signals are loud and clear. The onus to counter such signals is on the Punjab government. History in Punjab seems to be repeating itself to push Punjab into yet another cycle of what can be termed as the avoidable toxic situation. That cycle has now impacted even geo-political relations of India with some countries, especially Canada where the Sikhs are settled in sizeable numbers. In the context of the Sikhs as a globalized people, it is pertinent to mention that even in United Kingdom House of Commons, the representation of the Sikhs is now in double digit after the recent elections. Punjab is still impacted by the tremors of religio-political   dynamics that got triggered in 1978 with the Sikh-Nirankari clash on the Baisakhi on April 13 at Amritsar, the religious capital of the Sikhs. ...

Two binaries emerging in Punjab’s multi-polar polls where last 72 hours are always crucial

  Two binaries emerging in Punjab’s multi-polar polls where last 72 hours are always crucial   Ground Zero Jagtar Singh Chandigarh, May 28: The inter-play of socio-political forces in Punjab in the run up to the June 1 Lok Sabha elections is unprecedented. This is besides that established fact that the religio-political dynamics of this state has always been different from the rest of India, even when the boundaries of this country touched the Khyber Pass connecting with Afghanistan. It is for the first time that so many main political players are in the fray independently thereby making the contest multi-polar. Then there are two other eruptions in the electoral matrix making the multi-polar contest all the more interesting, and also important for future dynamics of not only Punjab but also India as the roots of this phenomena are not in too distant a past but in not so recent period of militancy. It is after decades that Punjab is going to the polls without a...