Setback for Ram Rahim! Supreme Court lifts High Court stay on trial against Dera chief in sacrilege cases

The Supreme Court on Friday lifted the stay imposed by the Punjab and Haryana High Court on the trial against jailed Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim in cases relating to the sacrilege of the holy book in 2015. The high court had imposed a stay on proceedings against the Dera chief in the three sacrilege cases.

A Supreme Court bench comprising Justices BR Gavai and KV Viswanathan passed the order today after the Punjab government filed a petition challenging the stay on Ram Rahim's trial. 

The 57-year-old Gurmeet Ram Rahim is alleged to have been involved in three separate incidents of sacrilege involving the holy book, Shri Guru Granth Sahib, the sacred scripture of the Sikhs, between June and October 2015 in Punjab. The cases were filed after several incidents in Bargari, Faridkot district, where the scripture of the Guru Granth Sahib was allegedly desecrated and had gone missing.

In stark contrast to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe, the Punjab government's Special Investigation Team (SIT) accused several Dera followers, including three national committee members and Ram Rahim, in the 2015 cases.

The Dera chief moved the High Court in 2021 seeking a fair and impartial investigation into the case pertaining to the sacrilege of the Sikh holy book. 

Challenging the Punjab government's 2018 notification dated September 6, Gurmeet Ram Rahim sought directions for the CBI to continue its investigation into the cases. The High Court then stayed the proceedings in the case.

Tracing Gurmeet Ram Rahim's connection with Charkhi Dadri seat winner

In the recent general assembly polls held on October 5 in Haryana, Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh's former jailer, Sunil Sangwan, representing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), won from the Charkhi Dadri constituency. 

In the 90-member-constituent assembly, Sunil Sangwan, a former jail superintendent, won against his closest rival, Congress' Manisha Sangwan, by 1,957 votes. The Haryana Assembly results came out on October 8, and the development about the Supreme Court's decision to reinstate proceedings against Ram Rahim in the Bargari case comes ten days after the poll results.

Earlier this month, Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh walked out of the Sunaria jail on a 20-day parole, following permission granted by the Haryana government. The Dera chief has been in prison since 2017 in the case related to the rape of two of his disciples and has been serving a 20-year sentence.