CHANDIGARH: Punjab and Haryana High Court has ordered attachment of the Dera Sacha Sauda's properties to recover losses suffered during violence ensued by followers of Dera chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh. Bureaucrats in Haryana said the task could prove to be a challenge because it could potentially to trigger more violence and that the state needed more clarity on which properties to attach.
Along with its headquarters on the outskirts of Haryana's Sirsa town, the Dera has eight other ashrams in the town and at least 15 others across Punjab, Haryana, and Rajasthan. The HC bench consisting of Chief Justice S Singh Saron, and Justices Avneesh Jhingan and Surya Kant passed the order on a public interest plea from a resident from Panchkula. The petitioner had demanded security after thousands of Dera supporters arrived ahead of Gurmeet's rape verdict.
A senior official in the Haryana home department said, “We shall have to wait to see the order before deciding how to go about it. Any attempt to attach the properties could lead to further violence.” He also said that it remains unclear which properties of the Dera, or whether all of them, should be attached. “There are Dera prayer houses in most of the major towns of Haryana and Punjab. The organisation also runs charitable hospitals and educational institutions. We'll have to seek a clarification on which properties to attach.”
The high court had directed Punjab and Haryana authorities to maintain law and order at all costs, clarifying that no kind of political interference will be tolerated in the matter. A senior lawyer said, “Some of the statements that have come from the leaders of the ruling party indicate that there was no attempt to restrain the Dera supporters. The Haryana government should not have allowed them to assemble from the very first day.”
