Panchkula Dera Violence: Court Dropped Sedition Charge Against 19 Followers

Panchkula Dera Violence: Court Dropped Sedition Charge Against 19 Followers

Panchkula court dropped sedition charge against 19 Dera followers on Thursday. They were connected with the 2017 violence that killed nearly 40 people.

Also Read: Panchkula Violence: Dera chairperson Vipassana Insan appears before SIT

This is a major unexpected development in the case. The state government hadn’t approved suspects’ trial for sedition. Among the 19 Dera followers against whom the case was registered were Chamkaur Singh, Pawan Insan and Surinder Dhima, some of Dera head Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh’s closest aides.

This is the second dera violence case where charges have been dropped. Recently, a local court had recently acquitted six followers of the cult of rioting charges in another related violence case on May 1, 2018. The court was critical of the prosecution for not having proved the charges: documents showed that the six men had not even been identified.

-PTC News