The case was heard by a bench of Justices BR Gavai and K Vinod Chandran. This hearing was based on an application filed by Ram Rahim’s legal team, requesting the vacation of the stay, which was part of the Punjab government’s plea challenging the High Court’s decision. While the bench considered the request, it declined to grant a stay on the trial at this stage.
NEW DELHI: Today, 3rd Feb, Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim has filed a petition in the Supreme Court to lift the stay imposed on the trial in the 2015 sacrilege cases. This trial involves incidents of desecration of the Guru Granth Sahib in Punjab. The stay had been issued by the Punjab and Haryana High Court, halting the legal proceedings. Ram Rahim is seeking the vacation of this stay.
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The case was heard by a bench of Justices BR Gavai and K Vinod Chandran. This hearing was based on an application filed by Ram Rahim’s legal team, requesting the vacation of the stay, which was part of the Punjab government’s plea challenging the High Court’s decision. While the bench considered the request, it declined to grant a stay on the trial at this stage.
The bench stated, “The prayer in the interim application cannot be granted without hearing the matter on merits. Rejoinder be filed within a period of 3 weeks from today. Post the SLP for hearing on March 18.”
The Supreme Court has set a date for further hearing in the case on March 18, 2025.
During the hearing, senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, representing Ram Rahim, argued that the Supreme Court’s stay on the High Court’s order effectively meant that the state’s appeal was being allowed without a proper hearing. He pointed out that the state’s petition challenged a reference order made by the High Court, in which the matter was referred to a larger bench for further consideration.
Rohatgi explained that in these cases, the CBI had filed a closure report, stating that no significant evidence was found against Dera followers. However, the state government was dissatisfied with this conclusion.
Rohatgi claimed, “State of Punjab had sent these cases for investigation to CBI…CBI was looking at these cases. Suddenly after two years, the Punjab Assembly passed a resolution that the consent to CBI should be withdrawn. Midway! This can’t be done. Based on that, the state after 3 years, withdrew the consent. CBI still proceeded and filed a closure. They were unhappy with this closure. In this issue, they want the state police,” he argued.
Rohatgi emphasized that the key legal issue was whether the state’s withdrawal of consent for the CBI to continue its investigation was valid.
He added, “By virtue of the stay, the Punjab police comes back and starts investigating.” Until the issue of consent withdrawal is resolved, he argued, the status quo should be maintained.
On the other hand, Punjab Advocate General Gurminder Singh requested more time to file a response. He also argued that the interim order had been issued in the presence of both parties, and he prayed for the main petition to be heard.
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Rohatgi also accused the Punjab police of picking up an innocent man unrelated to the cases and extracting a false confession from him, which he claimed was prejudicial to Ram Rahim. He urged the court to stay the trial until the main petition could be heard or to keep the order staying the High Court’s decision in abeyance.
While hearing the arguments, Justice Gavai asked the Advocate General whether chargesheets had been filed in the case. The Advocate General replied that three chargesheets had been filed against the accused, and the matter was still under litigation since 2022. He also referred to previous rounds of litigation in which the state’s decision to withdraw consent from the CBI was upheld.
The Advocate General further pointed out, “This is the third round of litigation. The present petitioner was arrayed as an accused not by CBI, but by state police. After the matter came to them, he has no locus.”
Ultimately, the Supreme Court bench decided to postpone the hearing on the main petition until March 18, 2025.
Background
The 2015 sacrilege cases in Punjab revolve around incidents of desecration of the Guru Granth Sahib. In June 2015, a copy of the Guru Granth Sahib was stolen from a gurdwara in Faridkot’s Burj Jawahar Singh Wala village. Later, sacrilegious posters against the holy book were found in Jawahar Singh Wala and Bargari villages. In October 2015, several torn pages of the Guru Granth Sahib were found near a gurdwara in Bargari.
These incidents led to widespread protests across Punjab. The police opened fire on the protesters, resulting in the deaths of two individuals and further intensifying the unrest. In response, a special investigation team (SIT) was formed to investigate the matter.
Initially, the investigation was handed over to the CBI in November 2015 by the previous coalition government of the Shiromani Akali Dal and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). However, in June 2019, the CBI filed a closure report, stating that there was insufficient evidence against the Dera followers. This report was rejected by both the ruling Congress party and the opposition Shiromani Akali Dal.
In the months following the closure report, the Punjab government withdrew its consent for the CBI to investigate the case. This led to the formation of a new SIT under the state police, which named several Dera followers, including Gurmeet Ram Rahim, as key accused.
In 2021, Ram Rahim moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court, seeking a fair investigation into the sacrilege incidents. He challenged the state government’s decision to withdraw consent for the CBI probe and also asked for the CBI to continue the investigation.
In March 2024, the High Court stayed further proceedings against Ram Rahim, which led the Punjab government to file an appeal in the Supreme Court. In October 2024, the Supreme Court stayed the High Court’s order, leading to the current legal battle.
Case Title:
The State of Punjab v. Sant Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh and Ors., Diary No. 43184-2024
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