Hundreds of soldiers were marching through an Indian town today after supporters of a religious leader protested his double rape conviction with violent riots that left 36 people dead.
Officials pleaded with thousands of followers of the self-styled Saint Dr Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh Ji Insaan who were holed up in his headquarters in Sirsa, a town in Haryana state, to come out and go home.
‘There are no instructions to security forces to enter the headquarters and forcibly clear it,’ said police spokesman Surjit Singh.
After a court declared the sect leader guilty of raping two of his followers 15 years ago, mobs yesterday set fire to government buildings, vandalised bus stations and government vehicles and attacked police officers and TV journalists in the town of Panchkula, 155 miles north of Sirsa.
Patrol: Indian paramiltary forces and police march in Jalandhar. Security in Haryana and Punjab has been beefed up after followers of controversial guru Ram Rahim Singh rioted yesterday
Armed: An Indian paramilitary soldier stands guard at a temporary check post on the national highway in Kurukshetra, India. Security forces are patrolling the streets after 36 people died during violent protests yesterday when the self-styled Saint Dr Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh Ji Insaan was convicted of rape
Presence: People sit outside the store belonging to Dera Sacha Sauda sect chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh after it was closed down by authorities near Sonipat
Crackdown: Indian policemen walk in front of a store belonging to Dera Sacha Sauda sect chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh after it was sealed by authorities
Marching: The troops are hoping to restore order and guard against further rioting after 36 people were killed
Murky past: Singh has previously been accused of convincing 400 followers to undergo castration at his ashram so they could get closer to ‘god’ and stood trial for conspiracy over the murder of a journalist in 2002
In 2015, Singh, 50, allegedly convinced up to 400 men to cut off their testicles to be closer to god.
Police used tear gas and water cannon and fired bullets to control the mobs near the court building.
Authorities lifted curfew restrictions on Panchkula, the main trouble spot, today after the night passed relatively peacefully and the area was cleared of protesters, said police officer Pradeep Kumar.
However, Kuldeep Puri, a 45-year-old resident, said people had come out of their homes after three days but were still scared.
‘Offices are shut today, even private offices are shut. No buses are running on the streets,’ Puri said.
Rapist: Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, 50, known as ‘the guru in bling’, has been found guilty of raping two female devotees
Security: An Indian paramilitary soldier, left, stands guard as his colleague checks a vehicle at a temporary check post on the national highway in Kurukshetra
Defiant: Followers of Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh park outside one of his shops with cars full of his products
Indian security officers check a vehicle on the national highway in Kurukshetra
Tens of thousands of supporters of the sect leader had camped in Panchkula for days waiting for Friday’s court verdict.
BS Sandhu, the state director-general of police, said 30 people died in Panchkula and another six in Sirsa. He said police arrested 524 people.
The protesters burned 28 vehicles and two government offices in Panchkula during rioting, he said.
Troops: A convoy of Indian Army soldiers patrol the town where the headquarters of the Dera Sacha Sauda sect is based. Supports of Singh are holed up there despite police requesting they leave
The guru, who had denied the charges of raping the two women at his ashram in 2002, was flown by helicopter to a jail in the nearby town of Rohtak because district officials feared they would be overrun by his supporters. His sentence will be announced Monday.
Indian Home Secretary Rajiv Mahrishi said the situation was under control elsewhere in Haryana and the neighbouring state of Punjab, as well as in the capital, New Delhi.
Railway stations in the towns of Malout and Balluana were ablaze, and two coaches of an empty train parked in New Delhi’s Anand Vihar station were set on fire yesterday.
A curfew was imposed in at least four districts of Punjab, said Amrinder Singh, the state’s chief minister.
‘We tried to prevent the unrest in every possible way, but the protesters were totally out of control,’ Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal said of yesterday’s violence.
The sect claims to have about 50 million followers and campaigns for vegetarianism and against drug addiction. It has also taken up social causes such as organising the weddings of poor couples.
The rape case was brought against Singh after an anonymous letter was sent to then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 2002 accusing him of repeatedly raping the sender and several other women in the sect.
A judge asked the Central Bureau of Investigations to look into the accusations, but it took years to trace the alleged victims and it was not until 2007 that two women came forward and filed charges.
India has been rocked by numerous scandals involving popular ascetics claiming to possess mystical powers, and Singh is no stranger to controversy.
Yesterday: Mobs set fire to government buildings and attacked police and TV journalists, smashing the windscreens of media vans and breaking broadcast equipment
Horrifying: The dead body of a follower of Indian religious leader Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh lies on the street next to burning vehicles following clashes between his supporters and security forces
Destruction: A man lifts a motorbike in an area which has been vandalized by Dera Sacha Sauda sect members
Rioting: Supporters of the Dera Sacha Sauda sect surround and attack a journalist, seen in foreground wearing a blue dark t-shirt, in Panchkula, during the violence that followed the ‘guru’ being found guilty of rape
In 2015 he was accused of encouraging 400 followers to undergo castration at his ashram so they could get closer to god.
He also stood trial for conspiracy over the murder of a journalist in 2002.
The man himself describes his following as a social welfare and spiritual organisation, while others refer to it as a religious sect.
Speaking before his conviction, supporters who had gathered in Panchkula credited him with turning their lives around, with some saying his organisation had helped them kick an addiction to alcohol.
Conviction: A follower of Singh pleads for his safety after being hit with a stick during clashes between the controversial guru’s followers and security forces
Mob rule: Followers of Singh’s Dera Sacha Sauda sect throw stones at security forces during violent clashes with police, which has left 29 people dead and some 200 injured
Clashed: Supporters of Singh throw stones at security forces as they are sprayed with a water cannon
Smoke billows after supporters of the Dera Sacha Sauda sect set vehicles on fire near in Panchkula, India
Singh’s work has angered mainstream religious leaders in India, particularly Sikhs who say he insults and belittles their faith.
There were protests in the Sikh-dominated state of Punjab over Singh’s 2015 appearance in a film entitled ‘MSG: The Messenger of God’, which showed him performing miracles, preaching to thousands and beating up gangsters while singing and dancing.
Such sects have huge followings in India and it is not unusual for their leaders to have small, heavily armed private militias protecting them.
Clashes in 2007 between Dera Sacha Sauda followers and members of the Sikh faith left at least three people dead in northern India.
In 2014, six people were killed when followers of another religious leader, the guru Rampal, fought pitched battles with police who were attempting to arrest him after he repeatedly failed to appear in court in connection with a murder trial.