5 years after Dera Sacha Sauda-linked violence in Panchkula, none convicted so far

Bhartesh Singh Thakur

Chandigarh, August 23

Even five years after the Panchkula riots that led to over 40 deaths in police firing, there hasn’t been a single conviction. Fourteen of the 152 cases have been decided so far, but all have ended in acquittals.

Four key accused not yet arrested

• Four accused were declared most wanted but haven’t been arrested.
• They include Aditya Insan, a top dera functionary, carrying an award of Rs 5 lakh
• Aditya along with Honeypreet was accused of organising the riots

On August 25, 2017, Dera Sacha Sauda followers went berserk and indulged in rioting after the CBI Special Court convicted dera chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh of raping his two women followers. Government offices were vandalised, vehicles torched, and hotels and shops ransacked, but no one has got compensation so far. Even media people were not spared. They were chased, and assaulted, and their equipment was snatched. Two OB vans were set ablaze.

There was glaring laxity on the part of the authorities. First, the police allowed dera followers to gather in the areas where offices and commercial establishments were located. Then, riot cases were filed without evidence, resulting in acquittals.

The Panchkula police initially registered 177 cases. It later clubbed 20 FIRs with the rest, and dropped five cases. Amongst the remaining 152 cases, 144 were registered at the Sector 5 police station. In all the cases, challans have been submitted in the courts. Four accused were declared most wanted but haven’t been arrested. They included Aditya Insan, a top functionary of dera, who is carrying a cash award of Rs 5 lakh, while the other “rioters” Amrik Singh, Phool Kumar and Abhijit Shankar Bagat carry a cash award of Rs 1 lakh each. Aditya Insan along with Honeypreet, the adopted daughter of the dera chief, has been accused of organising the riots.

In the 14 cases where acquittals have taken place, the judgments are replete with instances of poor police investigation. In the attack on the Haryana State Electronic Development Corporation office in Sector 2 which suffered a loss of Rs 67 lakh, the court while acquitting all 10 accused on September 29, 2021, said,“…the Investigating Officer (IO) has not been able to show as to how and why these persons were arrested in the first place and what was the material available with the police to implicate the accused persons, especially when none of the accused has been arrested from the spot and have been arrested later on various dates….”

In the case of damage to the building of Haryana State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission in Sector 4, the court while acquitting all six accused on July 30, 2018, noted that even the IO stated that he did not get the accused “identified from any persons of the building in question”.

The court added that there was no evidence direct or indirect to prove that accused were dera followers and had come to Panchkula, formed unlawful assembly, and committed the alleged offences.

In the case of burning down of a fire tender, while acquitting all 10 accused on January 16, 2020, the court commented that firemen had claimed that the police didn’t conduct an identification parade.

The court said the cases were built only on disclosure statements of the accused in custody, which were inadmissible as evidence. Police officials couldn’t be contacted.