2015 sacrilege case: Three Dera Sacha Sauda followers get 3-year jail term

Chandigarh, July 7: In the first conviction in the 2015 sacrilege cases in Punjab, a court in Moga district on Thursday sentenced three Dera Sacha Sauda followers to a three-year jail term for desecrating the Guru Granth Sahib.

The court of Judicial Magistrate First Class Rahul Garg also imposed a fine of Rs 5,000 each on Prithi Singh a resident of Baghapurana and Amardeep Singh and Mithu Singh, both residents of Malke village, said Special Public Prosecutor Sukhdev Singh. He said this was the first conviction in the 2015 sacrilege cases in the state.

Two other persons, Davinder Singh and Satnam Singh have been acquitted for want of evidence, the special public prosecutor said.

Shortly after the Moga court's verdict, Punjab Finance Minister and senior AAP leader Harpal Singh Cheema accused the previous governments in the state of never wanting to ensure that justice is delivered in the sacrilege cases.

But the AAP government is committed to ensuring that justice is delivered in all sacrilege cases, he said.

The Congress hit back at the AAP, saying the entire process that eventually led to the conviction of the accused happened under its rule.

In November 2015, torn pages of a copy of the Guru Granth Sahib were found strewn on the streets of Malke village in the Moga district. The police had then registered a case under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 295-A (intended to outrage religious feelings) and 295 (intent to insult the religion).

In October 2018, a special investigation team of the Punjab Police led by then deputy inspector general Ranbir Singh Khatra arrested five Dera Sacha Sauda followers in the case.

Three sacrilege incidents were also reported in the Faridkot district in 2015. These related to the theft of a copy of the Guru Granth Sahib and putting up handwritten sacrilegious posters while torn pages of the religious text were found scattered at Bargari.

These incidents had led to protests in Faridkot. In the police firing at protesters in October 2015, two persons were killed in Behbal Kalan while some people were injured in Kotkapura.

The matter has been an emotive issue in Punjab and been one of the main poll planks during the state assembly elections in 2017 and 2022.