The Supreme Court on Friday paved way for the trial in the 2015 sacrilege cases of Punjab against Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim.
A bench of Justices BR Gavai and KV Vishwanathan lifted the stay imposed by the Punjab and Haryana high court on the trial and directed Ram Rahim to file his response.
The top court passed the order on a plea of the Punjab government challenging the order of the high court.
During the hearing, Advocate General of Punjab Gurminder Singh sought a stay on the high court order which had stayed the trial in the three cases registered at Bajakhana Police Station at Faridkot in Punjab.
Noting the matter required scrutiny, the apex court issued a notice to Ram Rahim and sought his response within four weeks.
In February, 2023, the top court had transferred the trial against him and his followers in these cases from a court in Faridkot to Chandigarh.
Ram Rahim had previously moved the Punjab and Haryana high court challenging the validity of a September 6, 2018 notification of the state government withdrawing the consent given to the Central Bureau of Investigation to probe these cases and sought a direction to the central probe agency to investigate.
On March 11, 2024, the high court on Dera chief's plea while referring several questions to a larger bench for adjudication said, "Since the issues are being referred for consideration by a larger bench, it is deemed appropriate to issue an interim direction, to balance the equities. Hence, further proceedings before the trial court against the petitioner (Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh), in the above said sacrilege cases, shall remain stayed till further orders."
The high court had referred the matter to a larger bench to determine if the consent by the state government for CBI probe can be withdrawn at a later stage after the agency has registered the case for investigation.
Three alleged incidents of sacrilege of holy Guru Granth Sahib occurred between June and October, 2015, in district Faridkot, Punjab, and an FIR dated June 2, 2015 was registered under the provisions of the IPC at the local police station.
A priest at Gurudwara Singh Sahib at Burj Jawahar Singh Wala Village alleged the scripture of Shri Guru Granth Sahib had been desecrated.
The second incident of sacrilege reportedly occurred on September 24 and 25, 2015, wherein posters containing derogatory remarks about the sacred Guru Granth Sahib and other Sikh religious leaders were found pasted outside the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee-managed Gurudwara in Bargari. An FIR was thereafter registered at the Bajakhana police station in Faridkot.
Similarly, a third incident pertained to the recovery of 112 torn pages of holy Guru Granth Sahib around the Gurudwara situated at village Bargari on October 12, 2015 in the district and an FIR was registered at the Bajakhana police station.
The high court noted in its order that recurrence of these three incidents of desecration of Guru Granth Sahib in quick succession had led to an unrest in Punjab and protestors collected the torn pages and started protests at Kotkapura Crossing in Faridkot district.
"As the crowd became unruly, it started causing a serious law and order problem. The protestors later turned violent and caused damage to public property forcing the police to eventually resort to firing to disperse the unruly crowd. In addition to the said firing incident at the Kotkapura Crossing, another similar firing incident also took place at village Behbal Kalan," the high court had noted.
It had said two FIRs dated October 14, 2015 and October 21, 2015, respectively, under provisions of the IPC were registered at the police station Bajakhana at Faridkot related to the firing.
The three FIRs on incidents of desecration are called as the "sacrilege cases" while the two FIRs pertaining to the firing due to the incident of violence during the demonstrations against the desecration of holy Guru Granth Sahib were called the "police firing cases".
The high court noted that initially the investigation in all the five cases was carried out by the Punjab police but the religious hardliners and the highly-placed clergy took possession of the torn pages of the Guru Granth Sahib and did not allow the SGPC or the police to lift fingerprints from the recovered material.
Considering the gravity of the situation and the larger public sentiments, the then state government appointed Justice Jora Singh (retired) as single-member commission on October 16, 2015 to inquire into the alleged incidents of sacrilege and police firing.
With a change in the political dispensation in Punjab, the state government did not accept the report of the Jora Singh commission.
It decided to set-up another inquiry commission into the incidents of sacrilege as well as the police firing cases on April 14, 2017, and appointed a one-man commission headed by Justice Ranjit Singh (retired).
In 2015, the Punjab government gave its consent to transfer the investigation of the three sacrilege cases to the CBI. However, the consent for transfer of the investigation of sacrilege cases along with police firing incidents was thereafter withdrawn on September 6, 2018.
