Punjab Govt Gives Nod To Prosecute Dera Sacha Sauda Chief For Blasphemy

Cases of blasphemy were pending against Dera chief, hearings of which will be held in Faridkot Court. If necessary, he can be grilled in future.

Chandigarh: Hearing a petition by the Punjab government in a blasphemy case four days ago, the Supreme Court lifted the ban imposed by the High Court and served a notice to the Dera Sacha Sauda Chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh seeking a response within four weeks.

The Punjab government gave permission to prosecute him in three cases of blasphemy. Now, his hearing will be held in Faridkot Court. If necessary, he can also be grilled in future. It should be mentioned that ETV Bharat is in possession of a copy of the FIR which bears the names of the people involved.

It may be mentioned that the case dates back to June 2015 when the holy Guru Granth Sahib was stolen from a Gurdwara in Burj Jawahar Singh Wala village of Faridkot, followed by hand-down derogatory posters against the holy book put up in Jawahar Singh Wala and Bargari villages in September. In the following month, several torn parts of the holy book were found scattered near a Gurdwara in Bargari, fuelling a massive protest across the state. Police had to open fire on the protesters, killing two. This caused social and political unrest in Punjab.

Twelve persons were named in three cases of theft and desecration of the Sikh religious book. The previous coalition government of Shiromani Akali Dal and BJP had handed over the investigation to the CBI in November.

The issue of blasphemy was also raised in the assembly by Congress legislators. They said Deramukhi's file has been lying with the Chief Minister's Office for nearly two-and-a-half years. The CM also is in charge of the home department but the case is not progressing as expected.

Aam Aadmi Party MLA Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh also echoed his Congress counterpart in the House. However, CM Bhagwant Mann unequivocally said new facts had come to light and appropriate action would be taken.

On the other hand, Dera chief's lawyer and spokesman Jitinder Khurana said that "We strongly condemn the blasphemy incident." The Punjab government is requested to conduct an impartial investigation and bring out the real culprit, he said.

Lawyer Khurana further said that the Punjab government has given permission for prosecution in the case but the matter should be investigated impartially and no innocent should be implicated. He said that the CBI already did a lot of scientific investigation and it did not find anything in it and a closure report was also filed by the CBI in the Mohali court.