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2015 sacrilege cases: Dera chief Ram Rahim wants Supreme Court to keep trial stayed

Ram Rahim is serving a 20-year sentence awarded to him in 2017 for allegedly raping two of his disciples
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Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim. File
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Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim on Monday requested the Supreme Court to keep in abeyance its order allowing a trial court in Punjab to proceed against him in the 2015 sacrilege cases.

The Supreme Court had on October 18, 2024, paved the way for the trial of the 2015 sacrilege cases involving the Dera Sacha Sauda chief by lifting the stay ordered by the Punjab and Haryana High Court on March 11, 2024 on his trial.

During hearing on the Punjab Government’s petition challenging the high court order, senior counsel Mukul Rohatgi, representing Ram Rahim, told a Bench of Justice BR Gavai and Justice K Vinod Chandran that the top court’s October 18, 2024, order amounted to allowing the state’s appeal.

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As the Bench said it would hear the main matter, Rohatgi requested the Bench to keep its October 18, 2024 order in abeyance.

“The prayer in the IA (interlocutory application) cannot be granted without hearing the matter on merits,” the Bench said, posting the Punjab Government’s for hearing on March 18.

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Punjab Advocate General Gurminder Singh pointed out that the October 18, 2024 interim order was passed in the presence of the accused side.

Noting that the accused has already filed its reply, Singh sought four weeks to file a rejoinder. The court asked the state government to file its rejoinder in three weeks.

Rohatgi submitted that the State of Punjab handed over the cases to the CBI, which was investigating them and after two years suddenly the Punjab Assembly passed a resolution withdrawing consent to the central probe agency.

Lodged in Rohtak’s Sunaria Jail, he was recently given a 20-day parole by the Haryana Government. Currently, he is again out on a 30-day parole.

The October 18, 2024, order had come after Punjab Advocate General urged the top court to vacate the high court order staying the trial in three cases registered at Bajakhana Police Station, Faridkot.

The Supreme Court on February 28, 2023, ordered shifting the trial in three cases against Gurmeet Ram Rahim and seven others in connection with the 2015 Bargari Guru Granth Sahib sacrilege from Faridkot to Chandigarh in view of a heightened threat to their lives.

It had allowed the petition filed by the accused to transfer the trial out of Punjab after it was pointed out that Pardeep Singh Kataria, alias; Raju Dhodhi—a Dera follower and an accused in the sacrilege cases—was killed in Faridkot in November 2022. Kataria was on bail when he was killed by unidentified assailants.

The Dera Sacha Sauda chief had moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court challenging a September 2018 notification of the state government withdrawing the cases from the CBI and sought a direction to the central probe agency to investigate.

On March 11, 2024, the high court referred the matter to a larger bench to determine if the consent by the state govt for CBI probe can be withdrawn at a later stage.

“Since the issues are being referred for consideration by a larger bench, it is deemed appropriate to issue an interim direction, to balance the equities. Hence, further proceedings before the trial court against the petitioner (Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh), in the above said sacrilege cases, shall remain stayed till further orders,” the HC said.

Ram Rahim is serving a 20-year sentence awarded to him in 2017 for allegedly raping two of his disciples. The Dera chief and three others were also convicted in 2019 of the murder of a journalist over 16 years ago.

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