The Punjab Police has informed the Punjab and Haryana High Court that they have sent a notice to YouTube to provide relevant information in regard to an alleged video based on which an FIR was registered against Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh in Jalandhar for allegedly hurting religious sentiments. Gurmeet Ram Rahim has filed a petition in the high court for quashing of the FIR.
As per reports, the Jalandhar rural police had registered a case against Gurmeet Ram Rahim on the complaint of Jassi Tallan, president of Shri Guru Ravidas Tiger Force, alleging that the the dera chief made certain incorrect remarks about Guru Ravidas and Satguru Kabirji that had hurt the sentiments of the community.
In the reply filed in HC by DSP Sukhnaaz Singh, the Punjab Police said that the contents of the alleged video uploaded on an YouTube channel was checked by investigating officer, by using the URL link provided by the complainant. However the said video was found to have been deleted from the said YouTube channel.
The Punjab Police further said that the incharge of Technical Cell, Jalandhar police wrote a letter on March 21, 2023, to YouTube to provide the details of the alleged video. Further a notice was sent to YouTube on June 24 to provide the relevant information in regard to the alleged video. The reply is awaited. It further said that the video will be sent to the FSL for technical examination.
The state thus sought to dismiss the petition by the dera chief.
As per the petition filed at the high court, the Dera chief’s counsel had pointed out that the satsang (religious discourse) where the alleged statements were made was organised on February 28, 2016, and there had been no complaint in the past seven years.
They further submitted that in order to “falsely implicate the petitioner in issues having potential to disturb social fabric on the lines of religion, sect, and caste etc.”, the impugned FIR was registered and “a portion of the speech wherein a story sourced from historical texts/books was narrated was picked up in isolation to deliberately create a narrative that sentiments of members of the Scheduled Caste community were hurt”. “Some persons with vested interests picked up a small portion of the satsang and uploaded the same on YouTube channel as alleged in the FIR,” the Dera chief’s petition in the high court read. It added that neither Gurmeet Ram Rahim nor the Dera had any connection with the YouTube channel.
