New Delhi: Mobs rampaged across a north Indian town, leaving several dead and buildings in flames, after a court declared a quasi-religious sect leader guilty of raping two of his followers, according to police and a hospital doctor.
At least 14 people have been killed and more than 200 injured in Panchkula, Haryanaa, according to Dr V.K. Bansal, chief medical officer at the state-run Panchkula’s Civil Hospital.
Trial court judge Jagdeep Singh will pronounce the quantum of sentence on August 28.
After the verdict, the self-styled spiritual guru was taken into custody by Haryana Police. Later, he was airlifted to Rohtak jail.
Singh — who had denied the charges of raping the two women at his ashram in 2002 — was taken into custody and will be housed in a jailhouse in the nearby town of Rohtak in Haryana state until his sentencing hearing, prosecutor H.P.S. Verma said.
Since one of the two victims in the case was a minor at the time of crime in 2002, the minimum sentence will be 10 years imprisonment, which might be extended to a life term.
Ram Rahim arrived for the verdict in a 200-car motorcade and stood with his eyes closed and hands folded in prayer as the verdict was delivered. The judgement was pronounced amid unprecedented security cover, more than 15 years after an anonymous sexual assault complaint was registered against him.
The more than 100,000 supporters — who had congregated in Panchkula for the verdict — resorted to violence and attacked journalists and media vehicles, unhappy with the verdict.
The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Friday said the Dera Sacha Sauda sect would have to compensate for the losses in the violence by sect followers after a court held the Dera chief guilty of rape. The court also sought a list of properties the sect owns.
Earlier in the day, a bench of Justices S.S. Saron, Surya Kant and Avneesh Jhingan also categorically told the Haryana government that politicians, including ministers, should not be allowed to visit Panchkula, where the CBI court is located.
“If the politicians interfere, they needed to be booked,” said the judges.
Apprehending violence after the verdict, the High Court had also directed the police to videograph any cases of arson, and arrest those responsible for that.
“Suicide is not without instigation, and instigation itself is an offence,” the bench had said, adding they did not want to see police men being beaten up.
The army has been called in to help regain control. As many as 600 soldiers have been deployed in Panchkula.
In a video message on Thursday night, Singh had appealed to his followers to return home, and urged them to keep calm.
As news of Singh’s conviction spread, police in the neighbouring state of Punjab said a mob had set fire to a train station in Mukhtar district.
“A large mob has set a train station on fire in Malout town. We have rushed forces and fire services to the spot,” local police chief Sushil Kumar told journalists by phone as Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh appealed for calm.
Several trains that travel through Punjab and Haryana have been cancelled. In Malout and Balluanna districts of Punjab, many railway stations were set on fire. The rioters also torched a power grid and petrol pumps in Haryana.
Curfew has been enforced in Mansa, Panchkula, Bathinda and Ferozepur districts of Punjab. Adjoining Delhi has been placed on high alert.
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh has said that Haryana state administration cannot be blamed for the ongoing violence.
“Haryana state administration has taken all the precautionary measures. I have been told that Gurmeet Ram Rahim also wants peace. I appeal to all the Dera Sacha Sauda supporters for peace,” Singh told media.
He briefed Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi on riots in Sirsa, where the Dera headquarter is situated, and Panchkula. Singh has also called an emergency meeting to take stock of the ongoing violence.
Haryana Chief Minister (CM) Manohar Lal Khattar said the situation was being monitored extensively.
“Strict action will be taken against those who try to disrupt peace in the state. I am in touch with the Home Minister and additional steps will be taken to restore peace,” Khattar told media.
Meanwhile, Punjab CM Amarinder Singh has appealed for peace.
“We have taken necessary steps. I called the Home Minister a week back. I ask why the Haryana Chief Minister let people collect so close to the court. The situation is under control in Punjab. No deaths so far in Punjab,” Singh told media.
The case against Ram Rahim was registered in 2002 by CBI on the directions of Punjab and Haryana High Court after anonymous letters were circulated about the sexual exploitation of two Dera followers. The rape and sexual exploitation of the female followers was first reported through an anonymous letter in 2002 to then PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
When the guru left his ashram in Sirsa early Friday for the hearing, he was accompanied by a 100-vehicle convoy.
Police had erected heavy metal barricades topped with barbed wire along main roads in the town, a quiet residential suburb of Chandigarh, which is the common capital of Haryana and Punjab states.
Singh has a vast following in Haryana, where he runs a spiritual movement that claims to have millions of devotees around the world.
The believers pushed in like a wave that refused to break, packing roadsides and laying in the shade from colourful tents stretched over empty fields. They did not leave when the local government said go. They dug in when the state reportedly cancelled the region’s 29 train runs, shut down the internet, and put the army on standby.
While the Dera’s followers maintained their presence was peaceful and supportive, critics said it amounted to threat-by-numbers and meant to frighten a riot-weary government into lenient verdict.
“It is absolutely an intimidating tactic,” Utsav Singh Bains, an attorney representing the two victims, told NDTV this week. “This is a subversion of justice. You cannot put any kinds of pressure on a judicial system as a means to intimidate.”
