June 24, 2007
Sikhs March to Seek Dera Chief's Arrest
Bathinda (Punjab)
Hundreds of Sikhs Sunday took out a procession from Moga town to
Takht Damdama Sahib Gurudwara near here seeking the arrest of Dera
Sacha Sauda chief - Gurmit Ram Rahim Singh.
The procession was peaceful. Elaborate security arrangements had
been made by the Punjab police and central paramilitary forces along
its 120-km route. The marchers will reach Damdama Sahib later in the
evening.
Police diverted the procession from its planned route through the
village of Salabatpura, 35 km from here, where the biggest campus of
the Dera in Punjab is located.
"We have diverted the procession from the road to Salabatpura as we
did not want any untoward incident," a superintendent of police told
IANS.
The call for the procession was given by the Khalsa Action Committee
and radical Sikh leaders like Jasbir Singh Rode. The committee's
convenor and Delhi Singh Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee (DSGPC)
president Paramjit Singh Sarna, who had also called for the protest,
did not join the march.
A Bathinda court had last week issued non-bailable arrest warrants
against the Dera chief after the Punjab police sought the same on
the basis of a May 20 case registered against him here. He is
accused of hurting the religious sentiments of Sikhs.
The Sikh-Dera controversy started early May after the Dera chief
attired himself like 10th Sikh guru Gobind Singh. This led to
protests from the Sikh community. The Akal Takht - highest temporal
seat of Sikhism - ordered that the godman and his followers -
numbering over 2 million in Punjab - be boycotted by all Sikhs.
Violent clashes took place in Punjab and elsewhere for a week
following the controversy.
Gurmit Ram Rahim Singh finally sent a reluctant apology to the Sikh
religious leadership seeking forgiveness from the Sikh gurus. But
the apology was "rejected" by the Sikh leadership.
The Dera head resides in the sect's sprawling headquarters on the
outskirts of Sirsa town in neighbouring Haryana, 100 km from here.
The Haryana government has beefed up his security following death
threats against him.
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