Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh convicted of rape being transported Friday to a jail in Rohtak (Express photo)
Panchkula, Sirsa and other parts of Haryana continued to be tense, but under control, a day after followers of Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh went on a rampage setting on fire buses, media OB vans, railway stations, train coaches and government buildings. A total of 31 people have been killed in clashes with security forces in Panchkula and Sirsa. The violence began soon after a CBI court in Panchkula pronounced Ram Rahim Singh guilty of raping two female followers between 1999 and 2001. Singh was taken into custody Friday and transported in a helicopter to a jail in Rohtak. The quantum of the sentence will be announced Monday.
“We have been living in a state of terror. Yesterday and over the past few days we have been wondering if this is Panchkula or a city in some war-torn country,” a man in Sirsa told PTI
Meanwhile, action against the Dera Sacha Sauda began with district officials in Kurukshetra district sealing off two ashrams. The court had said that damages to property incurred on Friday would be recovered from the outfit.
Curfew has been clamped in many areas in Haryana and Punjab and flag marches were carried out by security personnel. In the morning, people were allowed to come on the roads to buy essential items.
Securities forces firing on dera followers after followers started violence after the verdict on Dera chief on Friday, August 25 2017. Express photo by Jaipal Singh
In Sirsa, the headquarters of the Dera, police officials said the situation is being monitored with no reports of violence since Friday night. Fifteen followers of the Dera have been detained by the police today. Two companies of the army and 10 companies of paramilitary personnel have been deployed. Curfew has been imposed in Sirsa too. Normal life has come to a standstill in the district with people complaining of widespread arson and looting.
On Friday, several police personnel and journalists were injured in the clashes in Panchkula soon after the verdict was announced. Thousands of Dera followers had assembled in Panchkula in anticipation of the verdict. The violence also spread to nearby Delhi where two empty train coaches of Rewa Express were set ablaze at the Anand Vihar railway station. Section 144 was imposed in all Delhi districts, Noida and Ghaziabad.
Gurmeet Ram Rahim supporters set a train on fire at Anand Vihar Station in New Delhi. (Express photo)
Meanwhile, the Centre Friday instructed the Haryana government to ensure security for CBI special court judge Jagdeep Singh who held the Dera Sacha Sauda chief guilty. Officials of the Union Home Ministry said intelligence inputs will be analysed before deciding whether the judge’s security cover needs to be handled by a central force such as the CRPF. Jagdeep Singh is Additional District and Sessions Judge at the Panchkula district court and was designated as CBI judge in April 2016.
