Panchkula riots

THIS day, five years ago, Panchkula witnessed scenes of anarchy as followers of Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim went on the rampage after a CBI special court found him guilty of raping two disciples. The large-scale rioting and destruction, leading to opening of fire by the security personnel that resulted in a number of casualties, marked a repeat of the failure of the Haryana Government in maintaining law and order during the violence-ridden Jat reservation agitation a year earlier. There are still no answers for the lapses by the police as well as civil administration and the apparent absence of any contingency plan in case of an adverse verdict. The fact that there hasn’t been a single conviction in 14 of the 152 cases of rioting that have been decided so far only adds to public dismay.

In scathing observations in response to the rioting, a Punjab and Haryana High Court Bench described the incidents of August 25, 2017, as a political surrender to lure vote banks, asking why the state could not stop the followers of the sect from congregating days ahead of the ruling despite prohibitory orders. Government offices were vandalised, vehicles torched, hotels and shops ransacked that day and yet, Haryana’s approach towards bringing the guilty to justice exudes a sense of restraint. In the 14 cases where acquittals have taken place, the judgments are replete with instances of poor police investigation. The embarrassment caused should propel a relook at the strategy for bringing the cases to their logical conclusion.

Some measure or degree of justice would be served if the dera paid for all damages as a result of rioting across Haryana and Punjab. The High Court had sought lists of district-wise compensation claims and while a figure of over Rs 10 crore has been forwarded for Panchkula alone, Punjab has said it had no objection to the constitution of a claims tribunal.