CHANDIGARH: The Punjab and Haryana high court on Thursday issued notice to the Punjab government on a plea filed by Dera Sacha Sauda (DSS)’s controversial head Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh seeking exemption from physical appearance before a local court in Faridkot in connection with two more sacrilege cases in which he has been named recently.
These cases are FIR No. 117 (registered in connection with derogatory posters put up at Bargari on September 24, 2015) and FIR No. 128 (registered after torn pages of a bir were found scattered near Bargari gurdwara on October 12, 2015).
The matter has now been fixed for Monday for further hearing.
In his fresh plea, the dera chief has sought directions to dispense with the physical presence and production and further orders to ensure his presence through videoconference. A local court in Faridkot had recently asked the dera chief to appear on May 4, in connection with these two new cases.
Challan has already been presented against him in these cases wherein he has been named as main conspirator. He is also an accused in FIR no. 63 (another case related to sacrilege incident registered at Bajakhana police station) in which the court has exempted his appearance and the police was directed to investigate him at Rohtak’s Sunaria jail, where he is undergoing sentence in connection with rape and murder cases. “That the petitioner has now been arrayed as accused in FIR No 117 and 128 of 2015, wherein even according to the investigating agency, these FIRs are interlinked and in continuity of FIR No 63/2015 in which order dated March 6, 2022 was already passed by the HC,” counsel representing the dera chief argued.
