Trial against Dera chief in sacrilege cases begins in Chandigarh court

After a gap of over six months, the trial proceedings against Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim and others in sacrilege cases began in a local court here on Thursday.

The proceedings re-started after the Supreme Court on October 18 vacated the stay on the trial imposed by the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

On Thursday, Ram Rahim was produced before the court through videoconferencing from Rohtak’s Sunaria jail. Meanwhile, the counsels of the accused prayed before the court for directions to supply the deficient documents.

In March, the Punjab Government had challenged the high court stay on the trial before the Supreme Court.

Trial against Ram Rahim and other Dera followers in three interlinked cases of sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib at Bargari in 2015 was transferred from Faridkot court to Chandigarh in February, 2023, on the directions of the top court.

Citing security threat, the accused had approached the Supreme Court seeking transfer of the trial to a court outside Punjab. The plea regarding transfer of the trial was filed after one of the accused was shot dead inside his shop in Kotkapura.

The three interlinked cases of sacrilege were registered by the Punjab Police after a ‘bir’ of Guru Granth Sahib was stolen from Burj Jawahar Singh Wala village on June 1, 2015.

It was followed by putting up of objectionable posters in Bargari and Burj Jawahar Singh Wala on September 25, 2015, and the recovery of torn pages of the stolen ‘bir’ from near a gurdwara in Bargari on October 12, 2015.

Ram Rahim was named as the main conspirator in the sacrilege cases by the Special Investigating Team (SIT) of Punjab Police. The Punjab Government had also granted sanction to prosecute him in the case.