Violent protests over Indian guru’s verdict leave 36 dead

On Friday, Ram Rahim Singh was passed down the guilty verdict for raping two of his female employees by an Indian court. What followed were state-wide violent protests by his followers which left 36 people dead and immense damage to state property.

The protests started on Friday and the stand-off between the enraged devotees and police ended on Sunday. The sentence for Singh’s conviction is to be read out today and authorities are bracing for more trouble in response to that.

Thousands of Singh’s supporters had gathered in the spiritual headquarters of his sect in the northern state of Haryana over the weekend and they refused to leave. The police and troops gave them multiple warnings to leave, but they did not budge.

After the court’s decision was read out on Friday, these devotees went on a rampage in Haryana and neighboring states. The Indian authorities had already sealed-off borders of the state for fear of the violence carrying over to other states and this is what averted the incident becoming even bigger.

The rioters attacked police and television vans and set them on fire. As a result of the violence, 36 people were accounted for as dead by Sunday evening.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Sunday it was “natural to be worried” as the violence even briefly reached the capital New Delhi.

“Violence is not acceptable in the nation, in any form,” Modi said in his monthly radio address.

“Those who take law in their hands or take to violence will not be spared, whoever they are.”

Meanwhile the police had blocked all the approaches to the premises and urged those who were holed up inside to surrender peacefully.

Singh’s followers were seen leaving one by one under heavy army guard on Sunday and since then, the situation has been contained.

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Posted by fatimaarshad on Aug 28 2017. Filed under Latest News, World. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.