Supreme Court clears trial against Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh in 2015 sacrilege cases, lifts High Court’s stay

The Supreme Court on October 18 removed the stay imposed by the Punjab and Haryana High Court on the trial against Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh in three sacrilege incidents in 2015, according to a India Today report.  

A bench of Justices BR Gavai and KV Viswanathan also issued a notice to Ram Rahim, requiring his response within four weeks, as per the report.

The court was hearing an appeal by Punjab against a ruling of the High Court that stayed proceedings against Ram Rahim in the sacrilege cases involving the desecration of the Guru Granth Sahib, the holy scripture of the Sikhs. 

In February last year, the top court had transferred the trial against Singh and seven Dera Sacha Sauda followers in the three sacrilege cases from a court in Faridkot to Chandigarh. The move came after Dera follower Pardeep Singh Kataria, an accused in the case, was shot dead. 

In December 2021, Singh had moved the High Court demanding that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) continue with the probe into three sacrilege FIRs of 2015, the India Today report added. 

The incidents related to the theft of a ‘bir’ (copy) of the Guru Ganth Sahib, putting up handwritten sacrilegious posters and torn pages of the holy book found scattered at Bargari had taken place in Faridkot in 2015. 

These incidents led to protests in Faridkot. In the police firing in October 2015, two protestors were killed in Behbal Kalan while some were injured at Kotkapura in Faridkot. 

The interlinking of the Bargari sacrilege with Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, the head of the Dera Sacha Sauda sect, emerged later. Singh was accused by many Sikh groups of being behind the sacrilege although there has not been a direct link as of now, India Today report added. 

The sacrilege issue, along with police firing on protesters in Behbal Kalan and Kotkapura, became major election issues in Punjab.