Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh Case: CBI Judge Who Convicted Dera Sacha Sauda Head May Get Central Security

New Delhi: In the wake of the violence by Dera Sacha Sauda supporters after the conviction of their leader Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, the Centre has asked the Haryana government to ensure adequate security to the CBI court judge who delivered the verdict on Friday.

The Union Home Ministry told the Haryana government that Judge Jagdeep Singh should be provided highest level of security in view of the threat perception after he delivered the verdict against the Dera Sacha Sauda head, an official was quoted PTI as saying.

The Home Ministry will analyse intelligence inputs before deciding whether the judge's security needs to be handled by a central force, such as the CRPF, the official said.

Ironically, Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, a rape convict now, enjoys 'Z' category security.

Judge Jagdeep Singh was in the news last year when he helped save the lives of four persons injured in a road accident after an ambulance service turned them down.

Widespread violence and arson in Haryana and a few neighbouring states following the conviction of Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh has left at least 32 dead and scores injured.

The Dera Sacha Sauda followers, ironically called 'premis', unleashed violence and set afire a large number of vehicles, including media vans, buildings and railway stations in Panchkula, which is otherwise a peaceful city on the outskirts of Chandigarh, as well as in Sirsa, where the Dera Sacha Sauda is based, and in Punjab.

Police and paramilitary used force, including firing and lobbing teargas shells, to control the volatile situation created by the Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh’s supporters followers who had gathered in thousands, defying the prohibitory orders like Section 144 of the CrPC, which bars assembly of more than four people at one place.

Apart from Panchkula, at least 32 incidents of violence and arson were also reported from Punjab’s Malwa region, where Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh’s Dera Sacha Sauda enjoys considerable support. However, no deaths were reported from there.

The unrest reached even Delhi where two coaches of a stationary train were set ablaze at Anand Vihar Railway Station, after which prohibitory orders were promulgated in 11 districts of the national capital.

In neighbouring Loni in Uttar Pradesh's Gaziabad district, a bus was set afire. A vehicle was also set on fire by a group of people in Rajasthan's Sriganganagar, the birthplace of the Dera Sacha Sauda chief.

Following large scale destruction by the mobs, curfew was imposed in Panchkula, Sirsa and Kaithal in Haryana and Punjab's Mansa, Bathinda, Ferozepur, Patiala, Sangrur and Barnala and Faridkot, the areas considered as stronghold of the Dera followers. Six columns of the Army, comprising a total of 500 to 600 soldiers, were deployed in Panchkula.