Chandigarh, August 27: A Punjab and Haryana High Court Judge has recused himself from hearing a bail application by Honeypreet Insan alias Priyanka Taneja, an accused in connection with the violence that took place in Panchkula after the conviction of Dera Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh.
Honeypreet Insan is the adopted daughter of convicted Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh. Justice Surinder Gupta has now referred bail application to the Chief Justice to set up a new bench.
Moving a regular bail petition, petitioner Honeypreet told the court that she was innocent and falsely implicated by the police in the riot case.
The petition stated that the Panchkula CBI special Court on August 25, 2017, had convicted Gurmeet Ram Rahim in two different rape cases.
Honeypreet has been accused of plotting the violence and inciting the Dera followers who indulged in rioting on August 25, 2017. “When the violence took place, I was with Gurmeet Ram Rahim and accompanied him to Rohtak’s Sunariya jail,” Honeypreet said.
The petitioner says that despite having no role in the violence, she has been named as an accused in the case.
The petition said a case was registered against her on the basis of the basis of the statement by Gurmeet Ram Rahim’s security guard, constable Vikas Kumar.
“It was on only on the basis of Vikas Kumar’s statement that the police scripted the story of a meeting on August 17, 2017 inside the Dera complex in which an alleged plan to flee the Dera chief from police custody was hatched,” the petition adds.
“I have been falsely implicated in the case and have been compelled to spend more than one and a half year in jail. There are 52 witnesses in the case, the trial of which is likely to last long. Hence, I should be granted a regular bail,” the petition states.
Over 35 people were killed in the Panchkula violence and dozens, including police and civilians, injured after Dera followers indulged in violence that took place in Panchkula on August 25, 2017.
