Honeypreet, 21 others charged with sedition

Rajinder Nagarkoti

Tribune News Service

Panchkula, February 21

The special investigation team (SIT) of the Haryana Police has slapped the sedition charge against 22 accused, including Honeypreet Insan, in connection with the Panchkula violence on August 25 last year.

The SIT today submitted a list of Sections slapped against all 25 accused in the violence case, at the Panchkula court.

The prosecution today started the final arguments on framing of charges and the subsequent trial against Honeypreet and the 24 others.

The court has now fixed March 6 for further hearing in the case.

According to the list submitted by SIT, besides Honeypreet, dera chief’s top aides, including Surender Dhiman, Dan Singh, Chamkaur Singh, Gobind Singh, Dilawar Insan, Pardeep Goyal, Khairati Lal, Rakesh Kumar, Sukhdeep Kaur, CP Arora, Gopal Krishan and Pawan Insan, have been charged with sedition. Besides, other Sections of the IPC have also been slapped against them.

Three accused — Sharanjit Kaur, Gurmeet Singh and his namesake — were charged with Section 216 of the IPC for harbouring an offender.

All accused, including Honeypreet, appeared in the Panchkula court today.

According to the police chargesheet, the conspiracy to spread violence in Panchkula was hatched at the dera headquarters by Honeypreet and the 45-member dera management committee.

Honeypreet, adopted daughter of rape convict Dera Sacha Sauda head Gurmeet Ram Rahim, has been charged with criminal conspiracy and sedition, and is the prime accused in the Panchkula violence that broke out after the conviction of the dera chief.

According to the chargesheet, the entire conspiracy to spread violence in Panchkula was hatched at the dera headquarters by Honeypreet and the 45-member dera management committee. Nearly 20 dera members, including Aditya Insan, the alleged mastermind of the conspiracy, are yet to be arrested.

Special Investigation Team seeks time to take prosecution sanction for sedition 

In another case related to FIR No. 343, the SIT on Wednesday sought time from the Panchkula court to take prosecution sanction from the state government to slap the sedition charge against the accused. The state government had already rejected the plea of SIT to include the sedition charge in this case. The court has now fixed March 9 as the next date for the hearing. Recently, the Panchkula court had dropped the sedition and attempt-to-murder charges against 53 dera followers in FIR No. 335.