Chandigarh: The Punjab and Haryana high court on Saturday came down heavily on the Haryana state government, holding it responsible for the violence that erupted in Panchkula on Friday and resulted in the deaths of 31 people, after the CBI special court verdict against Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh. The high court held chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar responsible for protecting Dera Sacha Sauda.
A full bench of the court, comprising acting Chief Justice S. Singh Saron, and Justices Avneesh Jhingan and Surya Kant, was hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by a Panchkula resident, raising law and order concerns, after a large number of people reportedly entered the district despite prohibitory orders.
Asking the state government how they could fail to notice the build-up of Dera supporters in Panchkula, the court said said that if Mr Khattar knew that anti-social elements created problems as per his statement, why was the government not able to prevent their entry into the ditrict for the past seven days. “This was political surrender to lure votebank,” the court said.
Punjab’s advocate general Atul Nanda said that the bench had taken serious cognizance of Friday’s violence. “The court observed that the loss due to the violence is a loss of the nation and the taxpayer. This loss will be compensated by those who are responsible for this loss,” he told reporters.
He said the court had directed Dera Saacha Sauda to give a list of its properties and not sell or transfer its properties till further order.
“The court has also directed the deputy commissioners of Punjab and Haryana to collect claim petitions from people who have suffered losses due to the violence and submit these to respective advocate generals who will then place these before the court,” he added. The court has fixed the next date of hearing for August 29, he said.
Meanwhile, director general of police B.S. Sandhu informed that two cases of sedition had been registered against Dera followers. He said that the police had recovered one AK47 rifle and one Mauser from a vehicle of a Dera follower, and two rifles and five pistols from another vehicle during the operations. As many as 524 persons have been arrested under eight different FIRs registered against the Dera followers.
The law-and-order situation is being maintained and constantly monitored in the entire state, and no incident has occurred anywhere after 6.30 pm on Friday. As many as 101 companies of paramilitary have been deployed in the state; six columns of the Army have been deployed in Panchkula, and four in Sirsa. Curfew has been relaxed in Panchkula and Sirsa.
He said that the district administration, Sirsa, with the assistance of police, paramilitary and military forces, was sanitising and securing the area outside Dera Sacha Sauda. He said that the casualties of the violence did not include any local resident.
Refuting reports that the Dera chief was being provided VIP treatment, the chief secretary said he was transported to the district jail in Rohtak in a helicopter due to security concerns. “He is being treated like any other inmate. He is being provided the same food and facilities and has not been provided an air-conditioned cell. His Z-plus security was withdrawn automatically,” he added.
