Chandigarh, October 22 (HS): Punjab government has approved filing a case against Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim in the incidents of sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib that happened about nine years ago in the state.

Case will be filed against Ram Rahim in three cases related to sacrilege.

This case started in June 2015 with the theft of a copy of Guru Granth Sahib from a gurdwara in Burj Jawahar Singh Wala village of Faridkot. After this, in September, hand-drawn desecration posters were put up against the holy book in Jawahar Singh Wala and Bargari villages of Faridkot. In October of the same year, several torn pages of the holy book were found scattered near a gurdwara in Bargari. Later, large-scale protests took place in Punjab. The state police opened fire on the protesters, killing two agitators. During this time, social and political unrest increased in Punjab.

After getting the approval of the Punjab government, now the trial against Ram Rahim will be conducted in the court of Faridkot, Punjab. Gurmeet Ram Rahim is currently lodged in Rohtak's Sunaria jail. Last week, while hearing the petition filed by the Punjab government, the Supreme Court had lifted the stay order of the Punjab and Haryana High Court in the cases related to sacrilege. Also, a notice was issued to the Dera chief in this matter and a reply was sought in four weeks.

Raising this issue, the Congress had surrounded CM Bhagwant Mann as the head of the Home Department. The file of the Dera chief has been lying in the CM office for about two and a quarter years. Aam Aadmi Party MLA Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh has also raised this issue in the Assembly.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Indrani Sarkar