JOIN USThe aisles to the posh localities of Panchkula close to the highly guarded Court complex had been swamped by several thousands of Dera supporters since morning. A terrible uneasy calm set in. The CBI court had pronounced Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh guilty of rape.
As news spread, the media was the first to be targeted. Soon it was mayhem all over.
All were looking for cover with no protection. Like many others covering the verdict, I was also caught in the melee. There was stone pelting as goons went berserk.
Dera hoodlums were sparing none. The epicentre where all had gathered was fast turning into a “civil war zone”.
Elsewhere on the national highway, we were told of groups of Dera goons burning fire tenders, cars and anything that they saw. It was a horrifying sight for a city like Panchkula. I was accompanied by a young photographer Bazm Verma and another correspondent PP Verma, we reached the area where vehicles had just been torched. The crowds were swelling fast towards this side of the chaos. We realized we could be in trouble soon enough.
We drove fast on the highway bridge to escape the hoodlums only to witness much more on the other side. The loud shouts by the hundreds in front of us was deafening. We reversed, without turning. 200-meters down the bridge, we slowed to some relief.
But the relief fast tuned into some sort of awkwardness, rather a feeling of something about to go terribly wrong. The Rapid Action Force (RAF) began the loud charge at us from the other side of the road with batons.
They jumped over the medians and led the charge. A group of over a dozen RPF men in blue surrounded the car we were in threatening us with batons. Unkind words followed as they asked us all to get out of the car. We showed I-cards, but they would not listen unless. A Panchkula sub-inspector “saved us” from the identity crisis that could have cost us, dear, as the RPF presumed us as Dera men.
We were unsure if the RAF would accommodate us for some time.
Many amongthem insisted we drive out of the place. There were two police vehicles that took the route we had returned from. We were glad as the vehicles would be some sort of indemnity on the highway. But that was not to be the case. The two police vehicles soon realised the risk to move forward and returned, just the way we did. We couldn't afford to be their longer as the RPF would move to another location.
So we decided to move out of the place at our own risk. A short cut into the less inhabited gold course area towards sector 3, that was till yesterday the assembly point for Dera supporters and now abandoned, took us out of the place to safety.