Dera Sacha Sauda chief booked for hurting religious sentiments

Chandigarh: Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh was booked on charges of hurting religious sentiments over his alleged objectionable comments on Guru Ravidas and Saint Kabir, police said on Thursday.

The Jalandhar Rural police registered a case under section 295 A (deliberate and malicious intention of outraging the religious feelings of any class) of the Indian Penal Code on a complaint by Jassi Talhan, chief of the Guru Ravidas Tiger Force, at the Patara police station, they said.

The complainant alleged that the dera chief, while on parole recently, made some objectionable comments on Guru Ravidas and Saint Kabir on February 5 which were shared through a YouTube channel.

A police official said the FIR was lodged on March 7 and further investigations were underway.

The dera chief, currently serving a 20-year jail term for raping two disciples, was granted a 40-day parole on January 20. He is lodged in Rohtak’s Sunaria prison in Haryana.

In 2021, the dera chief, along with four others, was also convicted of hatching a conspiracy to kill Ranjit Singh, a dera manager. The dera chief and three others were also convicted in 2019 of the murder of a journalist more than 16 years ago.