Two days after a special CBI court allowed controversial head of Sirsa-based Dera Sacha Sauda Gurmit Ram Rahim Singh to travel abroad for promotion of his movie "MSG: The Messenger", his passport was released by the police on Friday, even though dera followers staged a protest accusing the police of deliberately delaying the release of the passport.
Over 200 dera followers gathered at the Kotwali police station in the afternoon and raised slogans against the police administration for the alleged delay in giving a 'no objection' report for releasing the passport to the court of chief judicial magistrate (CJM) Raman Kumar.
The passport was confiscated by the district police after the dera head was booked in a case of hurting religious sentiments, which stands dismissed now. After the police reported to the court about having no objection in releasing the passport, the court allowed the police to release the passport. The court has permitted the release of the passport on the condition that the same will be deposited back after the dera comes back to the country.
Member of the 45 member-committee of dera followers Gurdev Singh said that the court had asked for a police report in releasing the passport, but the district police were making excuses by claiming that the passport had been misplaced. When they did ignored the repeated requests of the dera followers, they had to resort to a protest.
{{/usCountry}}Member of the 45 member-committee of dera followers Gurdev Singh said that the court had asked for a police report in releasing the passport, but the district police were making excuses by claiming that the passport had been misplaced. When they did ignored the repeated requests of the dera followers, they had to resort to a protest.
{{/usCountry}}Counsel for the dera head Kewal Singh Brar said that the court had sought a police report on the request of releasing the passport conditionally, but the police were deliberately delaying the same. The release of the passport was sought on the basis that the May 2007 case of hurting religious sentiments of the Sikhs against the dera head stands dismissed.
However, senior superintendent of police (SS), Bathinda, Inder Mohan Singh Bhatti, denied of any deliberate delay in reporting to the court and said that the same was done after following due procedure.