By IANS
New Delhi : The Supreme Court will hear on June 4 a petition by the Dera Sacha Sauda seeking protection for all its centres in the country following an ultimatum by the Akal Takht to vacate them by May 27 and to cease their activities.
A bench of judges Arijit Pasayat and D.K. Jain passed the order after counsel V.K. Ohri sought an early hearing of the petition.
In the morning, counsel Harvinder Kaur, who had filed a similar petition against the Dera, also sought early listing of the case. The Bench told her "these problems could be better solved politically at the government level". Declining an early hearing, the Bench posted it for June 4.
When Ohri mentioned about the other petition, the bench said the court had already fixed June 4 for hearing and this would also be heard on that day.
Ohri, however, said that he would make another mention on Monday.
The petition, filed by Dera trustee and vice chairman Abhijit Bhagat, prayed for a direction to various states to protect the life, liberty and property of the Dera and its followers.
It said that the Dera and its members had received various threats, including from the Akali Dal, that the Dera and all its properties would be "annihilated" unless it voluntarily ceased all its activities by May 27.
The petitioner said the inaction of the state governments in not protecting the Dera's followers despite such open threats being issued repeatedly was in violation of their right to life under Article 21 of the constitution.
The Akal Takht, a highest religious body of Sikhs, had on May 20 served an ultimatum to the Punjab government to close down all the Deras in the state by May 27. The stand-off was triggered by Dera head Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh's alleged insult to the 10th Sikh Guru, Gobind Singh.
The petitioner said the Punjab government had totally failed to maintain law and order. Rather, the police were mute spectators and the offence was spreading in Haryana and other parts of the country.
In her public suit, Kaur urged the court to restrain the Dera chief from indulging in "provocative" acts and the paramilitary forces from resorting to "atrocities" against the local people.
She said that she was participating in a legal literacy programme in Punjab and was a witness to last week's clashes that erupted after the Dera chief reportedly attired himself as Guru Gobind Singh. She sought compensation for the family of 28-year-old Kanwaljit Singh who was killed in firing by the security personnel at Sangrur in Punjab.
Kaur submitted that Singh was married only one-and-half years ago and was survived by his widow and a six-month old child. She further alleged that the paramilitary forces like the Rapid Action Force (RAF) and the Border Security Force (BSF) were taking advantage of the clashes and indulging in excesses against innocent Sikh families.