Non-bailable arrest warrants against Sacha Sauda head

Bathinda, June 20 (UNI) A local court today issued non-bailable warrants for Sirsa-based Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Raheem Singh, against whom a case had been registered at a police station here.

The case was registered by the Punjab Police on May 20 on a complaint of a local resident. The Dera head was charged with hurting the religious sentiments of Sikhs through his blasphemous act of imitating Guru Gobind Singh and enacting the religious baptism ceremony.

The warrants were issued by Duty Magistrate K L Kichi after the prosecution counsel pleaded that there was sufficient evidence against the Dera chief of hurting the religious sentiments of a religious community.

While referring to the plea of the prosecution, the court questioned the motive behind registering the case at a police station in Bathinda city instead of at Bhagta police station, as Ram Raheem had enacted the baptism ceremony in the Guru's robes at Salabatpura village. The prosecution contended that the case was registered at a local police station after the complaint of a local resident and, moreover Bathinda, too, had been affected by the violence that followed the Salabatpura incident.

As the Punjab Police had not sought the permission of the Punjab Government while registering the case against the Dera head, the Court directed the prosecution to get the requisite permission. The court pointed out that for registering a case under section-295-A, permission had to be first sought from the state government.

After the prosecution assured the court that permission would be formally sought from the state government, the Judge issued non- bailable warrants against Ram Raheem. The warrants are returnable by July 1.

The Judge had yesterday reserved its order on an application filed by the Punjab Police seeking an arrest warrant against the Dera chief for allegedly hurting the religious sentiments of Sikhs.

The police had on Monday filed an application in the court seeking a warrant against the Dera chief, claiming that they had ''sufficient evidence'' against him.

During the arguments yesterday, the prosecution told the court that the police had raided the Dera headquarter at Sirsa twice in the recent past to arrest Ram Raheem. However, on both occasions due to the presence of a large number of Dera followers, the police could not arrest him, the prosecution had added.

The 'blasphemous act' of the Dera head had led to widespread protests from various Sikh organisations and they demanded his arrest.

Even the apology offered by Ram Raheem failed to convince the Akal Takht, the highest spiritual seat of Sikhs, that passed an order calling for a total social, political and religious boycott of the Dera and its followers. The Akal Takht also gave a call for closure of all deras of Sacha Sauda in the state.

UNI