Prosecution charges Honeypreet with sedition for ‘inciting’ clashes
PANCHKULA : Honeypreet Insan, the adopted daughter of rape convict Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim, has been charged with criminal conspiracy and sedition for ‘conspiring and inciting’ last year’s Panchkula violence, the prosecution told a local court on Wednesday.
Honeypreet and other Dera functionaries were produced before a district court for a hearing on the framing of charges against them in relation to the arson that broke out in Panchkula after Ram Rahim’s conviction in a rape case.
During the arguments, the public prosecution, which was representing the Panchkula police, told the local court that Honeypreet has been charged with criminal conspiracy, sedition and three other sections for her alleged role in conspiring and inciting violence in Panchkula on August 25 last year.
The prosecution specified these charges against Honeypreet and 24 others after the defence counsel told the court that there was no clarity on the specific charges that the accused were being tried under.
As per the list submitted by district attorney (DA) Pankaj Garg, Honeypreet has been charged under Indian Penal Code (IPC) Sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), two sedition charges- section 121 (waging, or attempting to wage war, or abetting waging of war, against government) and 121-A (conspiracy to commit offences), besides section 150 (conniving with persons to join unlawful assembly) and 153 (provocation with intent to cause riots) of the.
The DA told the court of additional sessions judge Neerja Kulwant Kalson that Honeypreet was not being pursued for rioting and unlawful assembly as she was not physically present on the spot during violence.
Garg, however, added that she allegedly played a key role in conspiring and inciting the violence through the 45-member dera committee.
However, defence lawyer SK Rohilla said that the charges proposed by the prosecution, especially sedition and unlawful assembly, were not maintainable.
He also sought time in countering the prosecution, after which the court deferred the hearing of arguments. The court will now take the matter on March 6.