Court frames charges against Honeypreet

Tribune News Service

Panchkula, November 20

A local court on Wednesday framed charges against Honeypreet Insan, adopted daughter of jailed Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, in the 2017 Panchkula violence case. Honeypreet appeared in court under tight security. The next date of hearing was fixed for December 13.

The court of Chief Judicial Magistrate Rohit Watts framed charges under Sections 145 (joining or continuing in unlawful assembly), 146 (rioting), 147 (hiring or conniving at hiring persons to join unlawful assembly), 151 (knowingly joining or continuing in assembly of five or more persons after it has been commanded to disperse), 152 (assaulting or obstructing public servant suppressing riot), 153 (promoting enmity between groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of IPC.

Earlier this month, Additional District and Sessions Judge Sanjay Sandhir dropped sedition charges against Honeypreet and 39 other accused in the case.

On November 6, Honeypreet was granted bail. The same day, she walked out of the Ambala jail, where she was lodged since October 2017.

She had been booked along with other dera followers for sedition and criminal conspiracy in connection with the 2017 Panchkula violence, which erupted following the conviction of the dera chief in rape cases. The violence had left 30 dead and over 200 injured. According to the police, Honeypreet and others had hatched a conspiracy to help the dera chief escape “even at the cost of lives or overturning the government”.