Four years on, no one held guilty for dera violence in Panchkula

Panchkula police had registered 177 FIRs against 2,318 accused; in total, 2,167 persons have been arrested and are facing trial

Moments after the CBI special court had found Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim guilty of raping two women disciples, four years ago this day on August 25, lakhs of his followers had turned Haryana into a war zone of bloodshed and destruction, leaving 36 persons dead and 423 injured.

Police record shows that 29 buildings were damaged, 74 vehicles including two fire brigades were set ablaze, three OB vans, one school bus and 57 vehicles, including one ambulance, were vandalised. (HT FILE PHOTO)

Ram Rahim’s followers had pelted stones, destroyed outstation broadcasting (OB) vans of news channels and buildings, burnt vehicles and attacked security forces. When tear gas shells had proved ineffective, police had fled from the nakas, giving way to paramilitary forces, who had “shot to kill”.

Police record shows that 29 buildings were damaged, 74 vehicles including two fire brigades were set ablaze, three OB vans, one school bus and 57 vehicles, including one ambulance, were vandalized in Panchkula. The police had also seized five pistols/revolvers, four rifles, including an AK-47, two guns, one Mauser and 58 vehicles.

However, four years have passed, yet no one has been convicted.

Aditya Insaan, a former spokesperson of the dera, had fled the spot just after the verdict. He continues to carry a police reward of ₹5 lakh on his head and was declared a proclaimed offender (PO) on May 21 this year.

Panchkula police had registered 177 FIRs against 2,318 accused; 20 FIRs were clubbed on court’s direction. In total, 2,167 persons have been arrested and are facing trial. Currently, trials are going on in 143 cases.

The police could not trace accused five cases, and the remaining 152 cases are pending in district court, Panchkula. “To date, none has been convicted,” according to police data. At least 46 accused in nine cases have been acquitted.

Cases fell flat in court

Nine special investigation teams (SITs) were formed to investigate cases of violence, but they all fell flat in court. The first such case that fell flat in court on April 30, 2018, was related to FIR 415 of 2017, registered in Sector 5. Six persons, accused of rioting and snatching at Hafed Chowk, were acquitted. They had been arrested on the complaint of a Mohali-based photojournalist, whose video camera and tripod were snatched. The court acquitted them as “prosecution lacked evidence”.

In 2020, the eighth dera violence case (FIR 363) fell flat after an additional district and sessions judge acquitted 10 dera followers, accused of attempt to murder, riot and damaging public property. The three eyewitnesses that the prosecution presented failed to identify the accused and instead said that a mob had set a fire tender ablaze in which a fireman was injured.

In a 19-page judgment, the judge had held that the prosecution was not able to establish its case beyond reasonable doubt. The order read that the identity of the accused persons was not established in the case.

Another person was acquitted of criminal intimidation on June 4, 2018. Six were acquitted in FIR 362 on July 30, 2018. Five were acquitted on November 15, 2018, in a snatching case. On May 9, 2019, another five persons were acquitted.

The most important FIR was number 345 of 2017, registered in Sector 5, in which 40 accused, including Insaan, were named and whose role is considered crucial in “planning and execution of riots”. However, the case is pending trial. Since outbreak of the pandemic in March 2020, trial as well as probe has got affected and there is almost no progress since.