HC dismisses plea urging telecast of Dera Sacha Chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim's sermons from jail

Dera Chief may be currently in jail for raping two of his followers but his cult following hasn't seen much of a dip.

The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Wednesday rejected a plea by followers of Dera Sacha Sauda chief who is currently languishing in jail. They wanted permission for his sermons to be telecasted from prison. 

According to media reports, followers of Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh Insaan under the banner of  'Malwa Insan Followers Dera Sacha Sauda Sangh' had filed the petition. The court however dismissed the petition promptly. 

Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh is currently lodged in Rohtak jail serving 20 years sentence for raping two of his followers in a 1992 rape case. 

In August, violence had broken out in Panchkula following Ram Rahim Singh's arrest. The Centre was forced to rush as many as 150 companies of paramilitary forces to Punjab and Haryana to assist the police forces in maintaining law and order. At least 30 people were killed in the violence. 

Total expenditure incurred in controlling Dera violence was Rs 1,26,68,71,700 with Ambala district suffering highest loss of  Rs 46.84 crore. The second district to suffer maximum loss was Fatehabad with Rs 14.87 crore spent on resources used to control the situation.  While Sirsa, where the Dera headquarters is location, suffered Rs 13.57 crore loss and Panchkula, where the verdict was announced and 36 people were killed during the violence, suffered losses worth Rs 10.57 crore.

The authorities could only properly control the situation a day after the violence broke out and the Khattar government came under massive criticism for alleged lax response at that time.

The sexual exploitation case was registered against Dera chief in 2002 by the CBI on the directions of the Punjab and Haryana High Court after anonymous letters were circulated about the alleged sexual exploitation of two 'Sadhvis' (female followers) by Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh for which he was pronounced guilty. He still has a pending case of murder registered against him.

With agency inputs