The Supreme Court on Monday turned down Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim’s plea to halt his trial and restrain the Punjab Police from continuing its probe into the 2015 sacrilege cases, while making it clear that the matter would be heard in detail at a later stage.
A bench of justices Bhushan R Gavai and K Vinod Chandran declined to interfere with its October 2024 order, which had stayed a Punjab and Haryana high court ruling that had put the criminal proceedings and trial in three cases on hold. The Supreme Court’s decision effectively allows the proceedings against Ram Rahim to go on for his alleged role in the sacrilege incidents. Ram Rahim, who is serving a 20-year sentence in connection with two rape cases, is currently out on a 30-day parole.
Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Ram Rahim, argued that the top court’s stay on the high court’s order had effectively allowed Punjab’s appeal. He questioned the revival of the state police’s probe after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had already investigated the matter and filed a closure report.
“The State of Punjab had initially transferred these cases to CBI, which investigated them for two years. Then, suddenly, CBI’s consent was withdrawn, and the Punjab Police took over the probe again. This cannot be done,” Rohatgi submitted before the bench.
{{/usCountry}}“The State of Punjab had initially transferred these cases to CBI, which investigated them for two years. Then, suddenly, CBI’s consent was withdrawn, and the Punjab Police took over the probe again. This cannot be done,” Rohatgi submitted before the bench.
{{/usCountry}}He further contended that the state police had built its case on an extrajudicial confession from an unrelated individual, raising questions about the fairness of the investigation.
Punjab’s advocate general Gurminder Singh, however, rebutted these claims, stating that Ram Rahim was never arraigned as an accused by CBI -- the action against him was initiated only after the Punjab Police took over the probe.
“This is the third round of litigation on the same issue. The petitioner (Ram Rahim) was named as an accused not by the CBI, but by the state police after it took over the matter. Once the investigation was handed over to the Punjab Police, he has no locus to challenge it,” the Punjab AG argued.
After hearing both sides, the Supreme Court declined to grant any interim relief to Ram Rahim, stating: “Prayer in the application cannot be granted without hearing on merits. Post the special leave petition for hearing on March 18.”
The latest plea by Ram Rahim came after the Supreme Court’s October 2024 ruling, which had revived his trial by staying the Punjab and Haryana high court’s March 2024 order that had halted proceedings in the sacrilege cases.
The Punjab government had challenged the high court’s stay, arguing that it had wrongly reopened a legal issue already settled by a previous high court bench in January 2019, which had upheld the state’s authority to withdraw CBI’s jurisdiction over the case.
The Supreme Court had questioned the high court’s rationale in ignoring its earlier ruling and admitted Punjab’s appeal, allowing the trial to continue. Ram Rahim was given four weeks to respond to the state’s appeal and he has now filed his counter affidavit in the case.
The sacrilege incidents, which sparked widespread protests in Punjab, began on June 1, 2015, when a copy of the Guru Granth Sahib was stolen from a gurdwara in Burj Jawahar Singh Wala village. This was followed by the discovery of three derogatory posters threatening further desecration in Bargari and Burj Jawahar Singh Wala. On October 12, 2015, torn pages of the Sikh holy book were found scattered near a gurdwara in Bargari. Two demonstrators died and several were injured in subsequent police action.
The Punjab government formed a special investigation team (SIT) to probe the cases after the 2018 withdrawal of CBI’s jurisdiction. Ram Rahim had challenged this notification in the high court, demanding that the CBI continue its probe into the three sacrilege FIRs from 2015.
The SIT formed by the state concluded that the desecration was orchestrated at the Dera Sacha Sauda headquarters with Ram Rahim’s involvement. SIT’s charge sheet, submitted in April 2022, found no political involvement but alleged that Ram Rahim ordered the sacrilege as revenge for a perceived insult to sect followers by a Sikh preacher.
However, the state government was yet to grant prosecution sanction, with the proposal pending with the state home department. Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann recently stated in the state assembly that his government will grant prosecution sanction for the trial against Ram Rahim.