Taking note of intelligence inputs that retired defence personnel were involved in training private commandos and arming them with illegal weapons to protect Sirsa-based Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has decided to treat the issue as a public interest litigation.
The division bench comprising Justices M Jeyapaul and Darshan Singh has observed that search of such deras to unearth illegal arms and ammunition and monitoring the activities of deras on periodic basis is the need of the hour to avoid bloody confrontations like the recent operation on Sant Rampal’s Satlok Ashram in Barwala, Hisar.
“Religious places are meant only to impart religious discourses and not for giving training to private commandos to protect the head of a dera/ashram. At any rate, it cannot be used as a dumping ground of arms and ammunition,” the court observed.
Directing the high court registry to put the case before the Acting Chief Justice, the division bench said, “In view of the above facts and circumstances, the above observations made by us in connection with the Dera Sacha Sauda headed by Gurmeet Ram Rahim be taken as a public interest litigation.”
The judgment has come after senior advocate Anupam Gupta, amicus curiae in a criminal contempt case against Rampal, informed the court on November 28 that as per instructions issued by the Indian Army’s 10 Infantary Division Headquarters on December 13, 2010, some ex-servicemen were involved in imparting weapon training to activists of Dera Sacha Sauda. Intelligence inputs had also pointed to the involvement of some serving defence personnel in activities of the dera.
The court mentioned that unless illegal activities are monitored by top-level bureaucrats and police force, the situation would slip out of hand. Casualties will be more compared to what we faced while executing the arrest warrant against Rampal, it added.
The court also took judicial notice of the fact that Gurmeet Ram Rahim is facing two cases of murder and one case of rape being heard by a special CBI court.
Indian Express |December 1, 2014
Contact Lawyers In India : https://lawintellectindia.com/contact-us/