Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Monday granted prosecution sanction for Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmit Ram Rahim Singh Insan within the 2015 sacrilege circumstances, three days after the Supreme Courtroom revived the trial towards him.
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The apex courtroom on Friday reinstated the trial, staying a March 2024 order by the Punjab and Haryana Excessive Courtroom, which had paused proceedings in three felony circumstances associated to the incidents. A bench led by Justice Bhushan R Gavai stayed the Excessive Courtroom’s March 11 order, following an enchantment by the Punjab authorities. The state questioned the Excessive Courtroom’s strategy in revisiting a authorized challenge it had beforehand settled. The March 11 order had halted proceedings within the circumstances towards Ram Rahim, whereas referring his petition, which questioned whether or not the state’s consent for a CBI probe might later be withdrawn, to a bigger bench.
Sources mentioned that the prosecution sanction has been granted in three circumstances registered at Bajakhana police station in Faridkot. The file was cleared by the CM, who additionally holds the portfolio of residence minister. It took over two years to clear the file. Ram Rahim, presently serving a 20-year sentence for rape and homicide, was on a 20-day parole through the Haryana Meeting elections.
The three FIRs relate to sacrilege incidents that started on June 1, 2015, when a replica of the Guru Granth Sahib was stolen from a gurdwara in Burj Jawahar Singh Wala village. Later, on the night time of September 24-25, derogatory posters threatening sacrilege have been present in Bargari and Burj Jawahar Singh Wala villages. On October 12, 2015, torn pages of the Guru Granth Sahib have been found close to a gurdwara in Bargari. The dera chief was booked underneath Part 295 of the IPC for inflicting spiritual harm in these circumstances. The file required the CM’s approval, as the house minister should grant prosecution sanction in such circumstances, whatever the accused.
The problem was raised by Chief of the Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa through the monsoon session of the Vidhan Sabha, the place he questioned Mann on the delay in granting the sanction. Aam Aadmi Occasion MLA Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh, a former IPS officer who investigated the firing on anti-sacrilege protesters in Kotkapura and Behbal Kalan in 2015, additionally raised the difficulty a number of instances within the meeting.
The controversy dates again to the Punjab authorities, led by former Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, issuing a notification in September 2018 to withdraw the CBI’s consent to research the circumstances. The investigation was handed over to a Particular Investigation Workforce (SIT) of the state police. Ram Rahim challenged this resolution within the Excessive Courtroom, in search of the continuation of the CBI probe into the 2015 sacrilege FIRs.
Punjab Advocate Basic Gurminder Singh referenced a January 2019 Excessive Courtroom ruling that upheld the state’s authority to withdraw CBI consent.
