Chandigarh, 22 October : The troubles for Dera Sacha Sauda, Sirsa chief Gurmeet Singh Ram Rahim have increased. The Punjab government has given approval to prosecute him in three cases related to sacrilege. He will now face trial in the Faridkot court. If needed in the future, he may also be interrogated. The government made this decision shortly after the Supreme Court lifted the Punjab and Haryana High Court's stay on hearing sacrilege-related cases, while hearing a petition filed by the Punjab government about four days ago. The court also issued a notice to the Dera chief seeking a response within four weeks. The sacrilege issue was also raised in the Punjab Assembly. Congress MLAs raised this matter, stating that the Dera chief's file had been lying in the CM's office for about two and a half years. The CM also holds the Home Department portfolio, but the government had not given approval. AAP MLA Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh also raised this issue in the Assembly. However, CM Bhagwant Mann had clearly stated that new facts had come to light in this case and appropriate action would be taken. This whole matter began in June 2015 with the theft of a Guru Granth Sahib (holy scripture) from a Gurudwara in village Burj Jawahar Singh Wala, Faridkot. Later in September, handwritten sacrilegious posters against the holy book were put up in villages Jawahar Singh Wala and Bargari. In October of the same year, several torn pages (angs) of the holy scripture were found scattered near a Gurudwara in Bargari. Subsequently, large-scale protests erupted in Punjab. The state police fired on protesters, resulting in the death of two protesters. This led to increased social and political unrest in Punjab. A total of 12 people were named in three interconnected cases related to the theft and sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib. The previous coalition government of Shiromani Akali Dal and BJP had handed over the investigation to the CBI in November. The Dera chief had challenged the Punjab government's September 6, 2018 notification in the High Court, where the government had withdrawn its consent for the CBI investigation. In his petition, the Dera chief had requested that the CBI be directed to continue investigating the sacrilege cases. In March this year, the High Court referred this petition to a larger bench to determine whether the state government's consent for a CBI investigation could be withdrawn later. The court then stayed further proceedings, following which the Punjab government approached the Supreme Court against this order.
