Dera chief sentencing: HC notifies Rohtak jail for court sitting

The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Saturday said the District Jail at Sunaria near Rohtak will be the place for sitting of the CBI special court for the sentencing of rape convict Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, the disgraced chief of Dera Sacha Sauda (DSS) sect.

The sentencing is scheduled for Monday.

As per the notification issued by the High Court registrar, following directions from the Acting Chief Justice of the court, "the District Jail, Rohtak at Sunaria is the place for the sitting of the CBI court of Additional District and Sessions Judge, Panchkula, for the purpose of hearing of quantum of sentence...." in the conviction case of the sect chief.

The Haryana government has been directed by the High Court to make travel arrangements by air of the CBI court judge, Jagdeep Singh, and his two staff members to Rohtak on Monday.

The Haryana Police had said on Saturday said the jailed godman will not be brought to Panchkula for the sentencing.

The move comes after Dera followers indulged in large-scale violence on Friday after the sect leader's conviction on two counts in a rape case.

CBI court judge Jagdeep Singh while convicting the Dera chief in the 2002 rape and sexual exploitation of two female disciples, said the quantum of punishment for the 50-year-old sect leader would be handed out on August 28.

Ram Rahim was flown in a helicopter, specially arranged by the Haryana government, to Rohtak on Friday evening.

He is lodged in the District Jail at Sunaria, about 10 km from Rohtak.

Haryana Director General of Police (DGP) B.S. Sandhu told the media here on Saturday that the sect chief would not be brought back to the Panchkula court due to security concerns.

Panchkula town, adjoining here, where the CBI court announced the verdict, bore the brunt of violence unleashed by thousands of Dera supporters on Friday and resembled a war zone with a trail of 28 deaths, burnt vehicles and properties worth crores damaged or torched.

--IANS

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