Haryana suspends internet services in Sirsa following death of Dera chief Bahadur Chand Vakil

The Nayab Singh Saini government in Haryana Wednesday suspended internet services across the entire Sirsa district until Thursday midnight following the death of Dera chief Bahadur Chand Vakil last week.

Vakil was the head of Dera Jagmalwali in Sirsa. His followers have been alleging foul play in his death even as a different faction is set to take charge of the Dera. The Dera chief was cremated on Friday.

The order to suspend the internet services in Sirsa, issued by Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Anurag Rastogi, said, “There is an apprehension of causing tension, annoyance, agitation, and disturbance of public peace and tranquillity which may result in damage of public and private property in the district.”

The suspension came "to stop the spread of misinformation and rumours" through social media platforms, such as WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter, etc on mobile phones and SMS for facilitation and mobilisation of mobs of agitators and demonstrators who can cause serious loss of life and damage to public and private properties by indulging in arson or vandalism and other types of violent activities, the order said.

The Home Secretary ordered the suspension of mobile internet services (2G/3G/5G/CDMA/GPRS), bulk SMS (excluding banking and mobile recharge) and all dongle services provided on mobile networks except the voice calls in the jurisdiction of district Sirsa".

The restrictions will be in force from August 7 (1700 hours) to August 8 (23:59 hours).

Individual SMS, mobile recharge, banking SMS, voice calls, and internet services provided by broadband and lease lines of corporate and domestic households have been exempted from the ban.

Besides those in Sirsa, the Dera chief’s followers in Fatehabad and other neighbouring districts have also been alleging that his death was not natural.

They have been accusing another Dera follower, Virender Singh Dhillon, who has stepped forward to lead the Dera, of allegedly orchestrating Vakil’s murder. They have also been seeking a CBI probe into the death.