At least 30 people were killed and hundreds others wounded in Haryana’s Panchkula in widespread violence, arson and police firing, immediately after Dera Sacha Sauda head Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh was convicted of raping two women followers in 2002.
Two more people were killed as violence also engulfed Haryana’s Sirsa where the Dera is headquartered. Most deaths were reported to be due to bullet injuries.
Trouble soon spread to Rajasthan, Punjab and even Delhi and bordering areas of Uttar Pradesh. Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar admitted that there had been lapses in managing law and order. A special CBI court in Panchkula, which convicted him, will on Monday announce the quantum of sentence that can be a jail term of seven years but may even extend to life imprisonment. The convict was flown to Haryana’s Rohtak, where he was jailed.
Six columns of Army troops were called in to regain control in Panchkula, near Chandigarh, where thousands of angry followers of Ram Rahim, gathered there over the past four days, went on the rampage, hurling stones, besides vandalising and burning vehicles, including those of the media.
An Income-Tax office in Panchkula’s sector 2 and a petrol station in sector 4 were burnt.
Two columns of Army jawans were stationed in Sirsa and one each in Mansa and Mukhtsar in Punjab. Two train stations were set on fire in Punjab’s Malout and Balluanna. “Curfew was imposed in 10 districts of Punjab’s Malwa region, home to a large number of Dera followers,” said an official. Nearly 200 trains that run through Punjab and Haryana were cancelled.
Mobile Internet and data services were suspended in all affected areas and over a thousand Dera followers were taken into custody after a massive police crackdown. The Punjab and Haryana High Court said on Friday evening that the sect will have to pay for the losses.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was briefed about the violence by top officials. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh spoke to the Chief Ministers of affected states.
The Dera issued a statement, saying it has been “wronged”, and will appeal in a higher court against the verdict. A Dera spokesperson also appealed for peace. Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh blamed the Haryana government for “allowing gathering of Dera followers in large numbers in Panchkula”.
