Dera violence case adjourned till March 20

It may be recalled that charges had been framed against Honeypreet and others in Panchkula violence case in the last hearing in December, 2019, and the court was to start recording the statements of witnesses from January 24

A local court on Friday adjourned the hearing in the dera violence case, in which Honeypreet, the adopted daughter of rape convict Dera Sacha Sauda head Gurmeet Ram Rahim, and 39 others are accused, to March 20.

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Though Honeypreet and one of the witnesses, Vinod, appeared before CJM Nitin Raj, the case was adjourned as other witnesses had sought exemption for appearance.

It may be recalled that charges had been framed against Honeypreet and others in Panchkula violence case in the last hearing in December, 2019 and the court was to start recording the statements of witnesses from Friday.

The accused are faced charges under Sections 145 (joining or continuing in unlawful assembly), 146 (rioting), 150 (hiring or conniving with persons to join unlawful assembly), 151 (illegal assembly of five or more persons), 152 (assaulting or obstructing public servant from performing duty), 153 (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race etc, and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code.

The court had on November 6 granted bail to Honeypreet in FIR No 345, which was registered at Sector 5 police station in Panchkula in August 2017. In the FIR, apart from Honeypreet, Dera chief’s top aides Surinder Dhiman, Chamkaur Singh, Daan Singh, Dilawar Singh, Rakesh Kumar, Khairati Lal and Govind Ram are also accused.