Gurmeet Ram Rahim jailed: Peace prevails in Haryana, Punjab as Dera supporters disperse

Chandigarh: Life is returning to normal in Haryana and Punjab, which had witnessed violence after the conviction of Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, with educational institutions and shops reopening on Wednesday and transport back on most routes in “sensitive” areas. However, security forces continued to remain on alert in the two states. [caption id=“attachment_3986433” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh. Wikimedia Commons[/caption] No untoward incident has been reported from anywhere after the Dera chief was sentenced by a special CBI court. The 50-year-old Dera chief is lodged in Sunaria jail in Rohtak district, where a thick blanket of security has been thrown around. In Haryana, curfew now remains enforced only on the road leading to the Dera Sacha Sauda headquarter in Sirsa. Life is back to normal in Sirsa city. The army, paramilitary forces and police continued to be deployed at various ’nakas’ in Sirsa as a precautionary measure, the city’s Deputy Commissioner, Prabhjot Singh said. The Sirsa district administration on Tuesday sent 650 people from Dera Sacha Sauda to their respective destinations and apart from this, 18 girls aged up to 18 years were also taken out from the Dera after completing all legal formalities, the DC had said. Sirsa is home to the sprawling Dera headquarters where the sect’s followers had gathered in large numbers ahead of Ram Rahim’s conviction. Curfew had earlier been lifted from other towns of Haryana, including Panchkula and Kaithal. Haryana transport minister Krishan Lal Panwar has said orders have been issued to operate buses of Haryana Roadways in all districts except Fatehabad and Sirsa. He said bus service in 16 districts had been suspended in view of the law and order situation following the verdict of CBI Court in Ram Rahim case. Mobile data services were restored in Punjab, but the mobile Internet services including SMS and dongle services will remain suspended till the Wednesday afternoon in seven “sensitive” districts of Ambala, Kurukshetra, Kaithal, Jind, Hisar, Fatehabad and Sirsa of Haryana. Life in sensitive districts of Punjab including Bathinda, Patiala and Moga where there is a sizeable presence of Dera followers, remained peaceful as well, officials said. The violence which broke out after Dera chief’s conviction in the rape case has left 32 people dead in Panchkula while six died in Sirsa.