Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh

He was cleared of both the charges by the courts. He maintains that he holds all religions including Sikhism in the highest esteem. His followers have alleged harassment and persecution at the hand of the radicals. He has attracted criticism for his high security cavalcade, while his organisation has held that high security threat perception as the reason for the measures. Several times, terrorists of Khalistan Zindabad Force, Khalistan Liberation Force and Iknoor Khalsa Fauj planning to assassinate him have been arrested with a large cache of ammunition. In another case where its followers were accused, the Dera has stated publicly that it was being targeted by Shiromani Akali Dal and other vested political groups that were conspiring to defame it. His organisation has demanded a judicial probe into the allegations. Read Less

They accused him of blasphemy and of hurting Sikh sentiments. The controversy was followed by multiple attacks on the Dera members. Read Less

This raised the serious issue of an affront on personal liberties enshrined in the Indian constitution, along with the fact that no state or religious institutions stepped in to address unconstitutional acts like 'boycott' and 'retaliation'.

Militants who had engaged in randomly assaulting Dera members were freely causing mayhem unchecked by the police. But in Mumbai when radicals went berserk,the police acted belatedly to curb the tide of intolerance and public displays of violence against ordinary citizens. Read Less

The Dera Sacha Sauda tendered multiple apologies, regretting confusion over the dress, and stated that it had high regard for all Sikh Gurus. A multi religion delegation approached the apex Sikh organisation to accept the apology. However, the apology that was addressed to Guru Gobind Singh, was also rejected by the Kal Takhth.

A criminal case filed against Gurmeet Singh, for hurting the Sikh sentiments, was dismissed by the Sirsa court in 2009. Ajai Sahni has stated that the tensions between the Sikh community and the Dera have been exploited by the pro-Khalistan elements.He has further quoted Indian military intelligence that Iknoor Khalsa Fauj, Khalistan Zindabad Force and Khalistan Commando Force have liaised closely with ISI to eliminate Singh, On 2 February 2008, Gurmeet Singh's cavalcade was attacked, injuring 11 persons. A Khalistan Liberation Force militant Bakshish Singh was later arrested for the attack. Read Less

This was followed by a third apology, this time to the entire Sikh community, signed personally by Ram Rahim Singh. Read Less

on 24 January 2009, A case of wearing a dress similar to the one donned by "the tenth Sikh guru Govind Singh" pending against Dera Sacha Sauda Chief Sant Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh was dismissed by the District and Sessions Judge Sirsa

On Dec 03, 2010 Amar Ujala, an Indian reputed Hindi newspaper, published an article on information revealed by Central Bureau of Investigation in a closure report in court, stating that two ex-drivers of Dera Sacha Sauda were bribed to lie about the Dera chief's involvement in the murder in their statements to the media. According to the report, both the drivers were paid 3 million rupees and instructed to lie before TV channel that publicly they should take the responsibility to kill Fakir Chand along with their friends and also with the consent of the Dera chief as it was instructed to them. It was instructed to them that they should not be worried about anything and everything will be arranged. They used two news channel reporters and a fake live interview was telecasted through a channel to denigrate or malign the image of dera sacha sauda chief at Sector-22, Chandigarh (Haryana) in a hotel in 2007. An audio CD that has conversation over phone of "how to trap/defame dera sacha sauda chief" was also obtained by Central bureau of investigation over this issue. Read Less