E-Paper
Honeypreet gets bail in dera violence case
A local court here on Wednesday granted bail to Honeypreet Insan, adopted daughter of Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim, in a case pertaining to violence
A local court here on Wednesday granted bail to Honeypreet Insan, adopted daughter of Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim, in a case pertaining to violence in Haryana’s Panchkula in 2017.
Honeypreet had moved her plea on Wednesday morning, four days after a court dropped sedition charges against her and 39 others. Dera spokesperson Aditya Insan and other core committee members were also booked for the violence.
Honeypreet’s counsel Dhruv Gupta said, “The bail application was moved on the ground that as the sessions court had dropped sedition charges against her, now only bailable offences were there and it is right of every accused to seek bail.”
Another defence counsel Raj Singh Chauhan said, “The bail was granted on two surety bonds of ₹1 lakh each. The remaining five accused who are in jail will also move their bail applications in the court on Thursday.” She was in judicial custody at the Ambala central jail since October 2017. On Wednesday evening, she left the Ambala central jail in a white Toyota Fortuner.
Forty-one people have been arrested by the police and 5, including Aditya Insan, were declared proclaimed offenders by a court last year.
According to a chargesheet filed by the police, Honeypreet and the 45-member Dera management committee made a plan to unleash violence if Gurmeet Ram Rahim was convicted in the rape case. The conspiracy was hatched at the Dera headquarters in Sirsa at a meeting on August 17, 2017, the police said.
The prosecution said that Gurmeet Ram Rahim, Aditya Insan, Honeypreet attended the meeting. It had argued that it was decided in the meeting that Dera followers carrying sticks, umbrellas, petrol and chili powder should gather in Panchkula by August 25, 2017 and go on the rampage if Gurmeet Ram Rahim was held guilty and arrested.
When the court had dropped the sedition charges, Honeypreet’s counsel Dhruv Gupta said it was a “good ground” to apply for bail.
Honeypreet has been in judicial custody at the Ambala central jail since October 2017.
The August 2017 violence by Dera followers after a CBI court convicted the Gurmeet Ram Rahim led to the deaths of 42 people. Around 200 criminal cases were registered against Dera followers and over 1,000 of them were arrested.
