P''kula violence: Court drops sedition charge against 19 dera followers

Rajinder Nagarkoti
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, July 19

In yet another blow to Haryana Police, Panchkula court dropped sedition charge against 19 followers of Dera Sacha Sauda on Thursday in connection with 2017 violence that killed over 40 people and left scores wounded.  

Among the 19 were Chamkaur Singh, Pawan Insan and Surinder Dhima, some of Dera head Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh’s closest aides. The development wasn’t unexpected, given that the state government hadn’t approved suspects’ trial for sedition.

This is the second dera violence case to see charges being dropped. A local court had acquitted six followers of the cult of rioting charges in another related violence case on May 1, 2018. The court was critical of the prosecution for not having proved the charges: documents accessed by The Tribune had even showed that the six men had not even been identified.    

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Violence erupted in several parts of the Punjab and Haryana, especially in Panchkula, on August 20, 2017, after Dera Chief Ram Rahim Singh was found guilty of having raped two of his followers. The violence not only left a trail of dead—most of them followers of the sect—but also led to large scale destruction of public property, forcing Punjab and Haryana High Court to make excoriating comments about Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar government’s handling of the situation. Agencies