SC paves way for trial in sacrilege cases against Gurmeet Ram Rahim

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday paved way for the trial of the 2015 sacrilege cases involving Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh.

The development comes as a bench of Justices B R Gavai and K V Vishwanathan vacated the stay imposed by the Punjab and Haryana High Court on the trial and directed Ram Rahim to file a response. The apex court was acting on the plea of the Punjab government and will now hear the matter after four weeks.

Advocate General of Punjab Gurminder Singh sought a stay on the high court order which stayed the trial in the three cases registered at Bajakhana Police Station at Faridkot in Punjab.

Noting the matter required scrutiny, the apex court issued a notice to Ram Rahim.

In February, 2023, the top court had transferred the trial against Ram Rahim and his followers in these cases from a court in Faridkot to Chandigarh.

Ram Rahim had previously moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court challenging the validity of a September 2018 notification of the state government withdrawing the cases from the CBI and sought a direction to the central probe agency to investigate.

On March 11, 2024, the high court while referring several questions to a larger bench for adjudication said, "Since the issues are being referred for consideration by a larger bench, it is deemed appropriate to issue an interim direction, to balance the equities. Hence, further proceedings before the trial court against the petitioner (Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh), in the above said sacrilege cases, shall remain stayed till further orders."

The high court had referred the matter to a larger bench to determine if the consent by the state govt for CBI probe can be withdrawn at a later stage.

The Haryana government recently granted a 20-day parole to Ram Rahim while barring him from either taking part in election-related activities or leaving the jurisdiction of Haryana during this period.

Ram Rahim, lodged in Rohtak's Sunaria Jail, is serving a 20-year sentence handed out to him in 2017 for allegedly raping two of his disciples.

The Dera chief and three others were also convicted in a 2019 murder case of a journalist which happened over 16 years ago.