Chandigarh, August 26 (IANS): The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Saturday said the District Jail at Sunaria near Rohtak will be the place for sitting of the CBI special court for the sentencing of rape convict Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, the disgraced chief of Dera Sacha Sauda (DSS) sect.
The sentencing is scheduled for Monday.
As per the notification issued by the High Court registrar, following directions from the Acting Chief Justice of the court, “the District Jail, Rohtak at Sunaria is the place for the sitting of the CBI court of Additional District and Sessions Judge, Panchkula, for the purpose of hearing of quantum of sentence....” in the conviction case of the sect chief.
The Haryana government has been directed by the High Court to make travel arrangements by air of the CBI court judge, Jagdeep Singh, and his two staff members to Rohtak on Monday.
The Haryana Police had said on Saturday said the jailed godman will not be brought to Panchkula for the sentencing.
The move comes after Dera followers indulged in large-scale violence on Friday after the sect leader’s conviction on two counts in a rape case.
CBI court judge Jagdeep Singh while convicting the Dera chief in the 2002 rape and sexual exploitation of two female disciples, said the quantum of punishment for the 50-year-old sect leader would be handed out on August 28.
Ram Rahim was flown in a helicopter, specially arranged by the Haryana government, to Rohtak on Friday evening.
He is lodged in the District Jail at Sunaria, about 10 km from Rohtak.
Haryana Director General of Police (DGP) B.S. Sandhu told the media here on Saturday that the sect chief would not be brought back to the Panchkula court due to security concerns.
Haryana law officer sacked for carrying godman’s bag
Chandigarh, August 26 (IANS): The Haryana government on Saturday sacked Deputy Advocate General Gurdas Singh Salwara for carrying self-styled godman Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh’s bag after he was taken into police custody, an official said on Saturday.
Salwara, who is believed to be a relative of convicted Sacha Sauda Dera chief Ram Rahim Singh, was caught on camera while taking the bag from the godman in the court complex, a government official told IANS.
Panchkula town, adjoining Chandigarh, where the CBI court proclaimed the sect chief guilty, bore the brunt of violence on Friday and resembled a war zone with scores of burnt vehicles and properties damaged or torched.
CBI Special Judge Jagdeep Singh held the Dera chief, who has lakhs of followers mainly in Punjab and Haryana, guilty of raping and sexually exploiting two female disciples in 2002.
The self-styled godman is used to a life of ultra luxury and ostentatious public appearances.
The Dera chief was shifted to a prison near Rohtak town (about 70 km from Delhi) and was lodged in a barrack in the jail. The quantum of punishment would be pronounced in the prison on Monday.
Govt suspends
police officer
Under fire for its poor handling of the law and order situation in the wake of the massive violence unleashed by Dera supporters, the Haryana government on Saturday suspended a senior police officer for a “grave mistake” in the prohibitory order issued ahead of the court verdict on the Dera chief.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Ashok Kumar, an Indian Police Service (IPS) Officer of the 2007 batch, has been suspended.
Haryana Additional Chief Secretary, Home, Ram Niwas told media here that the police officer has been suspended owing to a “grave mistake”.
Sources said that Kumar had issued the order under Section 144 of Cr.PC (Criminal Procedure Code) imposing prohibitory orders in Panchkula district before the verdict. However, the order did not specify that assembly of four or more people in Panchkula district was prohibited.
