Fresh warrants against sect chief after police failure to produce him

The Punjab and Haryana High Court Monday issued fresh non-bailable warrants against controversial sect leader Rampal after the Haryana Police failed to present him before it.

The high court, while criticising Haryana Police and government, ordered that Rampal be produced in court Nov 17.

Police failed to produce him before the high court despite the court issuing non-bailable warrants against him last week.

The counsel for the sect leader submitted a fresh medical certificate before the court Monday saying that Rampal was not medically fit to appear before the court.

This is the third time that Rampal has skipped appearing before the high court despite contempt proceedings against him. He failed to appear before court Nov 5 also, citing medical reasons.

Tension continued to prevail on the outskirts of Barwala town in Haryana's Hisar district Monday with hundreds of followers of the sect leader surrounding the entire Satlok Ashram complex for the past two days and fortifying it.

The followers, some of them carrying weapons and others armed with sticks, have blockaded the way to the ashram complex to prevent police and administrative officials from arresting Rampal and taking him away.

Those blocking the police entry into the ashram include hundreds of women, men and children. Volunteers of the sect have even set up a 'commando protection force' to prevent police from entering the ashram and arresting their sect leader.

A division bench of the court headed by Justice Jeyapaul last week directed the Haryana home secretary and the state director general of police to ensure that Rampal and Rashtriya Samaj Seva Committee president Ram Kumar are present in the court Nov 10.

The controversial sect leader's followers had indulged in vandalism in a court in Hisar town, 240 km from here, in July this year when he was going there for an appearance in a 2006 murder conspiracy case.

The high court took suo moto notice of the Hisar incident and summoned the sect leader to appear before it.