2015 Bargari Sacrilege | Supreme Court Transfers Trial Against Gurmeet Ram Rahim and 7 Dera Followers to Chandigarh

The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the trial against Dera Sacha Sauda leader and ‘godman’ Gurmeet Ram Rahim and seven other acolytes of the religious cult in three interlinked cases of sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib at Bargari in 2015 to be transferred from Punjab’s Faridkot to Chandigarh. This development follows closely on the heels of the murder of a Dera follower, who was also an accused in the sacrilege cases, in Faridkot in November of last year. The transfer petitions were filed by five Dera followers, Sukhjinder Singh, alias Sunny, Shakti Singh, Ranjit Singh, alias Bhola, Nishan Singh, and Baljit Singh in December after six unidentified assailants on three motorcycles reportedly shot to death another co-accused, Pardeep Singh Kataria, alias, Raju Dhodhi on November 10. Kataria was out on bail when he was killed. Even though in November 2020, the top court had refused to transfer the pending trial from Bhatinda, Moga, and Faridkot districts in Punjab to a court in Delhi or any nearby state outside Punjab, a bench of Justices Aniruddha Bose and Sudhanshu Dhulia accepted the latest plea of the petitioners, who argued that there was a heightened threat to their lives. At the centre of the controversy are a series of desecration incidents in the state of Punjab that began with the theft of a copy of the Guru Granth Sahib from a gurdwara in Burj Jawahar Singh Wala village of Faridkot in June 2015. Subsequently, in September, handwritten sacrilegious posters against the holy book sprung up in Jawahar Singh Wala and Bargari villages in Faridkot. In October of the same year, several torn angs (pages) of the book were found strewn near a gurudwara in Bargari. As a result of this, massive protests erupted in the state of Punjab. The state police open fired to stymy the protests, resulting in the death of two agitators resulting in further social and political unrest. A total of 12 people were named in three interlinked cases related to the theft and desecration of the bir (copy) of Guru Granth Sahib. The investigation was handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation in November by a previous coalition government of Shiromani Akali Dal and Bharatiya Janata Party. In June 2019, the federal agency filed a closure report revealing that no incriminating evidence was found against followers of the Dera Sacha Sauda cult, but both the ruling Congress and opposition Shiromani Akali Dal rejected the report. Within months, the Punjab government withdraws the consent allowing the CBI to investigate, and the cases are handed over to a special investigation team of the state police. Trial in all three cases is pending in Faridkot court at the stage of arguments on framing of charges. Marking a complete departure from the outcome of the CBI probe, the SIT named several Dera followers, three national committee members, and the chief of the spiritual organisation as accused in the Bargari sacrilege cases. Controversial, self-styled Godman Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh has been nominated as the key conspirator by the police. The trial in all three cases was pending in Faridkot court before it was transferred on Tuesday. Case Title Sukhjinder Singh @ Sunny & Ors. v. State of Punjab | Transfer Petition (Criminal) No. 284 of 2020 and other connected mattersClick Here To Read/Download Order

2015 Bargari Sacrilege | Supreme Court Transfers Trial Against Gurmeet Ram Rahim and 7 Dera Followers to Chandigarh

Awstika Das

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