Firmly defending his government’s role in dealing with the Dera Sacha Sauda chief Ram Rahim’s case, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Saturday sought to blame the neighbouring Punjab for the crisis, saying Amarinder Singh government allowed more than 50,000 sect followers to enter Panchkula. Appearing on India TV Editor-in-chief Rajat Sharma's Aap Ki Adalat show, which was aired on Saturday at 10pm, he chided former CM and Congress leader Bhupinder Hooda for making tall claims and accused him of keeping the issue pending for years. The repeat telecasts will take place on Sunday at 10 am and 10 pm.
The Chief Minister also utilised the opportunity to take a swipe at the media for incorrectly breaking the news about the quantum of sentence given to rape convict Dera chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim.
A CBI special court in Panchkula had on August 25 convicted Ram Rahim in the 1999 rape cases. He was later sentenced to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment and is lodged in the District Jail at Sunaria near Rohtak. His conviction led to violence in Panchkula and Sirsa in Haryana, leaving 38 people dead and 264 injured. Isolated incidents of violence were also reported from Delhi and several other places in Punjab.
Highlights:
# In Article 19, you have freedom, but it is written that few restrictions can be added subject to … a word written ‘decency’
# Haryana is the first state to introduce women police stations. Today, women are coming to police stations to register cases.
# To a question related to non-jat CM: ‘Haryana ek, haryanavi ek’… this is our slogan. We rejected the caste politics. We are working for all sections of the society.
# On jat agitation: Government accepted their demand, but next day.. a new movement took shape. In fact, the court upheld our act, it only questioned the percentage of reservation.
# No special treatment to Ram Rahim inside jail. ...only he has been kept in a separate cell.
# Ram Rahim not going to meet Honeypreet soon. ....We have issued a lookout alert for Honeypreet, and once she appears, she will face separate charges, and she will be kept in custody.
# If anybody wants to join this (Swachhta Abhiyan) movement, I will gladly receive it. Today, he is serving 20 years rigorous imprisonment. If he expresses his choice to sweep inside the jail, he can be given this job.
# Khattar defends Ministers including Anil Vij donationg money to Dera Sacha Sauda.
# There was nothing wrong in going to the dera. Even Congress MLAs went there. In 2002, Om Prakash Chautala and his son Abhay also went there. Until and unless a person is convicted, there is nothing wrong in meeting him.
# He (Haryana Deputy Advocate General) may have been the baba's follower. We immediately took action and he was dismissed. He had gone there as a lawyer like other lawyers.
# Haryana CM Manohar Lal defends his party taking support from Dera Sacha Sauda during the 2014 assembly elections
# Yes, Ram Rahim supported us in 2014, but he became Dera chief in 1990, Since 1990 till 2009, there were eight elections in Haryana, and he supported the Congress in all elections. He still has connections with the Congress, both in Punjab and Haryana
# The fact is, railway stations were burnt in Punjab, there were lathicharge, several power stations were set on fire, and nearly 50 per cent of those injured were from Punjab.
# The dera was in Haryana, the routes were in Haryana, the court was in Haryana, the entire scene of activity was in Haryana, and he (Capt Amarinder Singh) is patting his own shoulder.
# After all, there is a limitation to media to listen to police officers who are in charge of security. This could have been avoided.
# There were 12 OB vans there. Nine OB vans were withdrawn when police asked them to take them to a safer place, but the other three refused to move, and were set on fire.
# The judge started hearing on quantum of sentence at 3 pm, and completed his order at 6 pm, but the media announced at 4 pm, that the baba was sentenced to 10 years jail and Rs 65,000 fine, which turned out to be incorrect.
# In Rohtak, the prison authorities decided that she could not be permitted to stay with the convict, and she was handed over to their relatives."
# Since the prison authorities were in Rohtak, she was allowed to accompany the baba on humanitarian grounds in case he required medical help. This was not a considered decision taken by the state government, but a localized decision taken on the spot.
# After he was convicted, she told the court that she was a physician, and she was required to give the baba medical help, and the CBI judge replied that granting permission for this was not his job. It was the job of prison authorities.
# There was a big conspiracy to help the baba escape if he was convicted, but our police and paramilitary forces foiled their plan, and the baba was sent to jail."
# While five policemen from Haryana in his security had one weapon each, all these eight Punjab policemen had two weapons each. We arrested five of our policemen, immediately suspended and later dismissed them. We also arrested these eight Punjab policemen.
# There is an element of truth (in conspiracy angle) since the baba had Z Plus security, and we found he had eight policemen from Punjab Police who had been sent to escort him. Under whose authority they were sent, we do not know.
# I would give credit to our intelligence guys who told us in which vehicle the baba was sitting. Since the court had allowed only two vehicles, these two vehicles were allowed to come in
# Had we stopped his cavalcade, the baba could have refused to appear in court. So the number of vehicles was irrelevant. We were not worried about that
# Our main objective was to make sure he appears before the court. It was immaterial whether he travelled in a cavalcade of 200 cars, or a thousand, or 2,000 or 8,000 cars
# Till the midnight of August 24, we did not know whether the baba (Ram Rahim) would appear or not
# We were faced with a situation in which Ram Rahim could have refused to appear in court and give an excuse
# The town of Panchkula has only 30 pc border with Haryana, and the remaining 70 pc with Punjab and Chandigarh, and we could not have closed down the Himachal-Punjab National Highway No. 22.
# We took measures, stopped buses and train, posted 17 barriers around Panchkula
# It was a very "risky" proposition to bring the baba to #Panchkula court on August 25
