Chandigarh, October 22, 2024 — The Punjab Government has granted approval to prosecute Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh in connection with three major sacrilege incidents from 2015 that triggered widespread protests and resulted in the deaths of two protesters during police firing.
The clearance came just days after the Supreme Court lifted a stay on the prosecution, which had been imposed by the Punjab and Haryana High Court in March. The state government had earlier appealed to the Supreme Court to vacate the stay.
Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, who also holds the Home portfolio, gave his nod for the prosecution on Monday evening, clearing a legal obstacle that had delayed the trial. In July 2022, a special investigation team (SIT), led by ADGP SPS Parmar, indicted Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh as one of the key conspirators in the sacrilege cases. He was among 12 people, mostly Dera followers, implicated in the incidents. The cases were registered under Section 295 of the IPC, which requires government sanction for prosecution in cases related to religious hurt.
A senior police official clarified, “The prosecution sanction from the highest state authority is a legal requirement to move forward with trials in cases of religious offense. This ensures that the law isn’t misused.”
The sacrilege cases, which deeply angered the Sikh community, involved three separate incidents. The first occurred on June 1, 2015, when a Bir of the Guru Granth Sahib was stolen from a gurdwara in Burj Jawahar Ke village, Faridkot. The second involved the posting of two objectionable posters outside a gurdwara in Bargari village on September 24 and 25, 2015. These posters used derogatory language against Sikhism and warned the community for opposing the release of the Dera chief’s film, “MSG2.” The third incident, on October 12, 2015, saw torn Angs (pages) from the stolen Guru Granth Sahib scattered in Bargari.
These incidents led to intense protests, police clashes, and the eventual deaths of two demonstrators. The Dera head’s non-prosecution became a key political issue in Punjab, with the AAP government facing criticism from opposition parties as well as its own members for the delay. AAP MLA Kunwar Vijay Pratap, a former IPS officer who investigated the police firing on protesters, was particularly vocal in criticizing the lack of action.
Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh is already serving time for rape and murder convictions in Haryana. Just ahead of the October 5 Assembly elections in Haryana, he was granted a 20-day parole by the BJP government, further fueling controversy around his legal treatment.
The Dera chief’s involvement in the sacrilege incidents has been a flashpoint in Punjab’s political landscape, and the decision to sanction his prosecution marks a major step toward addressing one of the state’s most contentious issues.
