About half an hour before Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh was pronounced guilty by a special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court in Sector 1 of Panchkula, rumour spread that he had been acquitted of rape charges.

Thousands of Dera supporters squatting on the roads and parks of adjoining Sector 2 and 5 broke into frenzied cheering.

Before this, Singh’s followers — who like to call themselves Premis — had been sitting in absolute discipline: Men and women in neat rows with stoic expressions, and a certain nonchalance towards the heavy media presence.

Journalists since the morning had focused on them, second-guessing the mayhem that would ensue if the “Baba” is pronounced guilty. Indeed the celebration that preceded the actual verdict indicated how bad things could get if the judgment went against the Dera chief and his followers.

How things went south

Most supporters had been cordoned off at the Sector 2 and 5 roundabout since 10 am. A barricade manned by police and paramilitary forces ensured that they could not move towards the CBI court in Sector 1 or spread to other parts of the city. Apart from journalists, no one crossed the barricade to where the Dera supporters had been sitting. Till the afternoon, this was the scene of action from where most media persons had been relaying information back to TV news studios in Delhi.

When the news of the CBI court pronouncing Singh guilty slowly trickled in, journalists warned each other to move towards the other side of the barricade and station themselves behind the police force. The Premis were not yet aware of the verdict since all messaging and Internet services had been shut down. Within a few minutes, Dera spokesperson Aditya Insaan gave out a statement, saying that the verdict should not be hyped and appealed for calm. From then on, for about 20 minutes, Dera followers remained calmly seated, a few of them got up to form a human chain of sorts. A certain restlessness was palpable in the crowd. Media persons waited to see if the unease would result in a full-on confrontation with security forces. Within minutes, a crowd of men started attacking OB vans and toppled them over.

The attack on the press vehicles went on for a good five to seven minutes, while the forces merely watched on. They had water cannons at their disposal but did not think it important to use them to quell the first signs of violence. It was as if the Premis were allowed a chance to release their anger. It was only after the vehicles were toppled over that the water cannons came out and tear gas shells were fired.

While journalists stood there recording the violence for a while, things got serious when the crowds started advancing towards the forces. At this point, multiple rounds of tear gas shells had been fired and the air was thick with noxious fumes. Most journalists had started to retreat a little, when there was sudden panic owing to some policemen and women scurrying towards their vehicles. This was when journalists and cameramen started running away from the spot.

Mob fury

I, too, started running away from the charging crowds and realised that some policemen and women were running besides me. At one point, I spotted another journalist from Hindustan Times’ Chandigarh, who was having a tough time, given that the tear gas had made it difficult to breathe. We asked a police vehicle to give us a lift, but it just sped off as we made a failed attempt to climb into it. The mob was evidently being contained by the Central Reserve Police Force, while we moved towards the CBI court that had heavier paramilitary and police presence. We were finally given water by residents of Sector 2 and were taken into one of the homes to stay there till the situation calmed down. By now, the Army had been called in. In the madness, we forgot to question the cops on why they were running away from the mob — did they feel outnumbered? Or threatened, like us?

Later, we learnt that in the mayhem, several journalists had hid in the government buildings nearby. A reporter from The Mint was injured and Dera supporters had set her car on fire, burning all her belongings. Luckily, the driver had managed to escape. Another reporter from ETV Bharat told us how the Premis had burnt his bike down, yet another told us how he managed to pull his car papers out in time before it was gutted down by the mob.

Around 30 people have lost their lives in the ensuing madness — all of whom are Dera supporters, according to reports trickling in from city hospitals. In the morning, many of them had promised in interviews with the media that they would not indulge in violence and were only there to support their “pitaji”.

A group of Dera supporters, in fact, had taken it upon themselves to help journalists in their jobs through the day — offering them water, cold drinks and food as they reported in the heat.

It would be incorrect to, then, tar them all as unruly mobs. But what cannot be discounted is the fact that there had been a fair inkling that some of them would unleash violence if the verdict went against Singh. The administration it seems just waited for them to do exactly that.

The author can be contacted on Twitter @MnshaP.