7 days, swelling crowd, HC warning: How Haryanas Khattar govt ignored vital signs

August 26, 2017 11:39

It was 11.30 am in the Punjab and Haryana High Court Friday when Haryanas Advocate General B R Mahajan claimed that except for two spots, a public park and a community hall, most of the crowd of Dera Sacha Sauda followers had been evacuated from Panchkula.

Hearing this, the High Court directed the state not to shy away from using any kind of weapon to deal with persons indulging in arson, loot and violence. Three hours later, after their chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh was convicted of rape by the Panchkula CBI court, this very crowd went on a rampage, torched more than 70 vehicles and damaged six government buildings setting off a police-public clash that left, until midnight tonight, at least 30 dead and hundreds injured. And a beleaguered state government scrambling for cover.

Todays violence, given its sudden flare-up and intensity, was startling but hardly surprising. When Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar appealed for calm a few minutes before the verdict, it was clearly too little, too late.

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