HC pulls up Har govt, issues fresh warrant against Sant Rampal

Rejecting Haryana government's plea that self-styled godman Sant Rampal was unwell and his arrest would create law and order problem, Punjab and Haryana High Court today issued a fresh non-bailable arrest warrant against him in a contempt case and cancelled his bail in a 2006 murder case.
Observing that the state government lacked willingness to arrest the self-styled godman and no sincere efforts were made to produce him before it, the HC directed the Haryana Director General of Police (DGP) and the Home Secretary to ensure that Rampal appears in person before it on or before November 17.
If Rampal again fails to appear before it, then the DGP and Home Secretary will have to appear before it in person, a division bench, headed by Justice M Jeyapaul, said.

The bench took strong exception to the constitution of a medical board by the Hissar district authorities to examine Rampal's health, and held that the medical board was "invalid" and the Haryana DGP's "status report" on the self-styled godman's health "is not acceptable".
The court also said the government's plea that casualties might take place in the course of arrest of Sant Rampal is "unjustified".
The government's counsel had earlier submitted before the bench that Rampal could not be brought in court as women and children were sitting in front of his ashram at Barwala in Hisar district, resisting his arrest and that the authorities wanted to avoid any violence.

The high court also cancelled the bail granted to Rampal in a 2006 case of murder and sought the entire file pertaining to the case. Rampal was granted bail by the court in 2008 in connection with the murder case.

The court observed that Rampal should not think that he is sitting in a bunker and law will not be able to catch him. "He will have to appear before the court," the bench said.
Rampal has been charged with interfering in judicial proceedings during the hearing of a case in the Hisar sessions court. On July 15, his supporters had marched inside the district court complex in Hisar and tried to create trouble in the court proceedings.

The HC took cognisance of the case and issued notices to Rampal and the state government. As he failed to appear before it, the court had last week issued non-bailable warrant against Rampal and asked the Haryana government to produce him and his aide Ram Kumar Dhaka before it today.
Though Rampal did not appear, his aide Dhaka was arrested and produced in the court. The court asked Dhaka to seek bail from the CJM court concerned by filing a plea and directed him to appear before it on every hearing.